Smallville Revised
by Booksaboutnothing
Summary: A scenario in which Clark is the son of the Lang's and Lana is the daughter of Jor El. Getting into some serious Clana now. Storyline : Shattered
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Characters are not my property, that's why this is a fan fiction, not an actual story.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Prologue**

Jonathon and Martha Kent enter the flower shop. Inside a little boy was dressed up like a magician pretending to do magic tricks.

"Afternoon 'Nell," Jonathon called to the store's owner.

The woman behind the counter turned around to look at her two friends and customers, "Jonathon. Martha. What a surprise she," she said. "What brings the reclusive Kent's to town?"

"Tulips," Martha replied simply. "Red ones if you have them."

"What about a tiger orchid?" Nell offered.

"No thanks." Jonathon replied, "Martha has her heart set on Tulips."

"That a rather very uncomplicated flower," Nell said going to find the flowers for them.

Martha went to go see the little boy, "That is a lovely costume Clark. Are you a magician?"

"I am a powerful wizard," Clark replied with a grin.

"Hey where are his parents?" Jonathon asked Nell.

"They at the homecoming game with everyone else," Nell replied. "I'm being the good aunt."

"Do you want to make a wish?" Clark asked Martha.

"I would love to make a wish," Martha replied.

"Okay Abra-Kadabra," Clark said waving his wand and touching Martha's forehead.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Martha sat in the truck staring up at the sky dreamily as Jonathon loaded some bags of seeds into the back.

"I know what you wished for," Jonathon said as he got into the truck beside Martha.

"To see a little face," Martha said, "That's all I ever wanted."

Just then a convertible drove by its horn honking loudly. Cheerleaders were sitting on the back waving to the people along the street.

"Hey looks like Smallville won again," Jonathon commented.

Jonathon pulled the truck out to join the makeshift parade that was driving up and down the narrow strip that was Smallville downtown.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

High above Earth a strange metal object which seemed to be followed by several meteors began plummeting down towards Earth in a fiery decent. The point of impact, was Smallville.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In a cornfield a young red headed asthmatic boy stumbled across into a brief clearing. He rest up against the post of a scarecrow to administer his inhaler to himself.

"Hey, kid," a weak voice said.

The boy turned around to see a skinny teenager tied up to the post, a large "S" painted across his chest.

"Help me," the teenaged boy pleaded. "Help me please."

As the red-headed boy stared up entirely unsure of what to do a burning trail flew across the sky plummeting in the cornfield nearby. There was a gust of wind followed by a shockwave of dust heading straight towards them. The red-headed boy ran away too frightened to know what else to do. He wasn't fast enough though and the dust cloud caught up to him, knocking him off his feet.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In downtown Smallville the parade had stopped and everyone was staring at the giant slanted pillar of smoke that had just raced across the sky. Nell came out of her flower shop carrying Clark in her arms.

"What in God's earth?" she muttered.

Across the street a young couple got out of their car, "Hi Clark!" the woman called.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Clark exclaimed excitedly.

The couple joined the rest of the people on the street in looking up at the odd black smoke trail in wonder. Nell looked about rather worried. The couple continued to stare up at the sky as a ball of flaming rock came plummeting down directly towards them. The rock smashed into them enveloping them and their car in a giant ball of flame. The gasoline inside the car exploded sending debris everywhere and everybody on the street began to scream and panic. More meteors began to fall from the sky destroying anything in their path and sending the town into further panic.

Outside the flower shop Nell sat on the ground too frightened to move as she held onto the now orphaned Clark who began to cry.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Kent's were driving back to their farm when suddenly a meteorite hit the ground and blew about ten feet behind their truck. Both of them looked back in horror at what was happening behind them.

"What's happening?" Martha asked extremely panicked.

Jonathon didn't have time to reply. A meteorite had just hit the road directly in front of them. Jonathon slammed the brakes but the truck toppled into the deep ditch the meteor had created.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When the Kent's regained consciousness they realized that their truck was upside down, but otherwise they seemed to be fine. As Jonathon looked outside his window he saw a set of little feet walking towards the truck.

"Martha?" Jonathon asked offhandedly at his wife.

A naked little girl bent down to look at the people inside the truck. Both Jonathon and Martha were speechless at the naked child that just squatted there smiling at them. The quickly got out of the truck and wrapped the girl in Martha's jacket. They began investigating the ditch the meteor had created.

"Kids just don't fall out of the sky Martha," Jonathon said to his wife who was carrying the little girl.

"Then where did she come from?" Martha asked her husband.

"I dunno." Jonathon replied, "But she must have parents."

Just then they reached a deeper hole. Looking down into the hole they saw a strange object that was half buried.

"Well if she does they're definitely not from Kansas," Martha said.

Jonathon looked up at the sky and then at Martha who was already infatuated with the little girl and was entertaining thoughts about finally having her own child.

"Sweetheart we can't keep her," Jonathon said. "What are we gonna tell people? That we found her out in the field?"

"We didn't find her," Martha replied. "She found us."

At that point Jonathon Kent knew that it was useless to argue. The girl was going to be growing up with them.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Lana Kent, you're going to be late for the bus." Martha Kent called up to her daughter.

"Okay mom!" Lana called down to her mother.

She logged off her computer and ran downstairs to the kitchen and opened the fridge. She grabbed the milk and began drinking it directly from the bottle.

"Uh-uh." Martha said coming to take the bottle away from her daughter.

"It tastes good right out of the bottle," Lana complained.

"Where'd you learn your manners?" Her mother asked her.

"On the farm," Lana replied.

Just then Jonathon Kent came in the door.

"Good afternoon sleepyhead," he said to Lana.

As her mother and father discussed what was happening that evening, Lana looked at the permission slip to join the cheerleading squad.

"Whatcha got there?" Jonathon asked her.

"It's a permission slip. For the cheerleading squad." Lana replied. "I was thinking of trying out this afternoon."

"I'm sorry but you know you can't join," Jonathon said.

"Why not?" Lana protested.

"You know why," Jonathon replied.

"Ah come on it's not like anything is going to happen." Lana said.

"Lots of things can happen in the heat of the game," Jonathon said.

"But I'll be really careful." Lana said.

"I know that you'll be careful," Jonathon said. "But what if there's an accident?"

Lana sighed unable to come up with a response.

"Lana I know this is gonna be really hard for you," Jonathon said patting his daughter on the back. "But you gotta just hang in there. You promise?"

Lana tried to hold back the disappointment that was welling up inside her, "I'm sick of just hanging in there. All I want to go through high school without being a total loser."

With that she grabbed her bag and walked out the door to catch the school bus, leaving her parents watching her unsure if they had made the right decision.

As Lana got to the driveway she saw the school bus pulling away. She ran to the end of the driveway but it was too late the bus was speeding off towards school. Lana sighed with disappointment having missed the bus once again. Then, as the bus was pulling enough out of sight, she took off with inhuman speed through the cornfields.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On board the bus, Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross were having a laugh and Chloe handed a dollar bill to Pete.

"I can't believe you would bet against her," Chloe said.

"It's a statistical fact," Pete said, "If Lana were any slower she'd be a stick."

As the bus slowed to the next stop Chloe thought she heard something on top of the bus.

"Did you hear that?" She asked Pete.

Pete shrugged some what oblivious.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, has anyone asked you to the dance yet?" Pete asked Chloe.

"Not yet," Chloe replied.

"Well if nothing pans out with you know who maybe you know…"

"Pete," Chloe interrupted. "Do you want to take the commercial break from the soap opera you're living in your head? I told you a thousand times I'm not interested in Clark."

"You vehement denial has been dually noted," Pete said. "Hey maybe you and I can go together. I mean not as a date, date thing; more of a friend, friend thing."

"Hi guys," Lana said coming up from behind them.

"Didn't you just, uh, weren't you…" Chloe stammered.

"I took a shortcut," Lana replied simply.

"Through what a black hole?" Chloe asked.

"Lana, you'll have to excuse our intrepid reporter. Seems here weird-ar is on DEFCOM 5. She thought someone was attacking the bus," Pete said.

"Okay," Chloe said jumping in again. "Just because everyone else chooses to ignore the strange things that go on in this leafy little hamlet doesn't mean that they don't happen."

"You know we'd love to join you and Scooby inside the mystery machine for another zany adventure we gotta hand in some permission slips before homeroom." Pete said.

"Actually Pete I'm having second thoughts. I don't think I want to join the cheerleading squad, it doesn't seem like such a great idea." Lana said.

"Lana listen this is the only way for me," Pete said. "If you don't want to join the squad, fine."

"Wait, wait," Chloe said, "You're trying out for the football team? What is this some sort of teen suicide idea?"

A look of anger and fear crossed Pete's face. He grabbed Chloe and pulled her aside

"We're trying to avoid being this year's scarecrow." Pete explained in a low voice.

"What are you talking about?" Chloe asked. "And why are we whispering?"

"It's a homecoming tradition. Every year before the big game the football player select a freshman. They take him out to Riley field, strip'em down to his boxers and paint and S on his chest." Pete explained.

"Then they string him up like a scarecrow," Lana finished.

"Jeez that sounds like years of therapy waiting to happen." Chloe said.

"Why do you think I'm trying out for the team?" Pete asked. "I figure they won't choose one of their own."

However Lana was no longer in on the conversation. Standing about 40 feet away was Clark Lang, quite possibly the best looking guy in the entire high school.

"I'll see you guys in class," Lana said some what dreamily as she wandered off towards Clark.

"I give her ten seconds," Pete said pulling out the dollar bill.

"Five," Chloe retorted.

"1… 2… 3… 4… 5." Pete counted.

Almost as if on command Lana stumbled and dropped her books on the ground.

"Statistical fact," Chloe said. "Lana Kent can't get within 5 feet of Clark Lang with out turning into a total freak show."

"Nietzsche," Clark said handing a book to Lana.

Lana stared at the little green chunk of rock that hung from the chain around Clark's neck like a sort of cross.

"I didn't realize you had a dark side Lana," Clark commented with a smile.

"Doesn't everybody?" Lana replied weakly.

"Yeah I guess so," Clark agreed. "So what are you woman or superwoman?"

"I haven't figured it out yet," Lana replied.

"Clark there you are," someone called.

Lana looked up to see Whitney the captain of the football team and starting quarterback.

"I hear you're trying to take my job this year," Whitney said.

"Well someone has to replace you when you leave at the end of the year," Clark said.

"Hi Lana," Whitney said off-handed to Lana who was picking up her books now that she was being ignored.

Lana felt ill. There was something about that rock the hung around Clark's neck that just didn't sit right. She could get near him if he didn't wear but that wasn't very frequent. Lana picked herself up and sat on the low fence that surrounded the schools small garden.

"Are you feeling alright?" Whitney asked Lana in a very uncaring tone. "You look like you're about to hurl."

"I'm fine," Lana replied.

Whitney and Clark turned to walk away. "You forgot one Lana," Whitney said tossing a book to Lana.

Lana fumbled to try and catch it and ended up dropping all her other books again. She sighed and breathed heavily as she tried to regain her strength.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Lana was sitting in the stands doing some homework and watching the football team and cheerleading squad practice, wishing that she could be a part of that. She lapsed into a daydream of herself and Clark.

"Lana!" Pete said.

Lana snapped out of the dream and found herself looking at Pete, who looked absolutely ridiculous in the football gear that he was wearing. The equipment was all way to big, especially the helmet.

"How do I look?" Pete asked as he tried to stop the helmet from sliding down over his eyes.

"Like a tackle dummy," Lana replied as she got up to leave. She didn't want to see Pete get murdered by the other players. "Good luck."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana found herself standing on the bridge on the way home staring down at the flowing river beneath. She was complete immersed in thought largely unaware of what was going on around her. So when a truck passed by and dropped a roll of barbed wire fencing. However when a Porsche suddenly slammed on its breaks and then blew its tires as it ran over the barbed wire Lana snapped out of her train of thought and took notice. The car began to swerve as it lost control and ran straight at Lana. Lana was too startled to know what to do. The car hit her head on and plummeted down into the river taking Lana with it.

Underwater the driver of the car sat unconscious in his seat. Lana knew she had to hurry or he'd drown. She grabbed the edge of roof and began to peel it open like a pudding can with ease. She pulled him out and dragged him up onto shore. He wasn't breathing so she began to perform CPR, being careful to not push to hard.

"Come on," Lana muttered, "Don't die on me."

The man spat out water and became conscious once again.

"I could have sworn I hit you," the man said between gasps of breath.

"If you did," Lana said gasping for breath herself. "If you did, I'd be dead."

She turned around to look back up at the bridge. In her mind she was still unsure about what had just happened.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EMT's and a recovery crew had already arrived by the time Jonathon Kent arrived to take his daughter home from the scene.

"Lana!" Jonathon yelled.

Lana was sitting on the bank of the river still wrapped in a red blanket to keep her warm. Jonathon ran over to check on her, "Are you alright?" He asked anxiously.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Lana replied to try and calm down her father.

"Who's the maniac that was driving that car?" Jonathon demanded from the police officer nearby.

"That would be me," the driver said. "Lex Luthor."

The young, but bald man offered his hand to Jonathon Kent, but Jonathon was anything but pleased to meet him. Jonathon took off his jacket and wrapped it around Lana.

"Jonathon Kent," Jonathon replied not accepting Lex's offer of friendship. "This is my daughter."

"Thanks for saving my life," Lex said to Lana.

"I'm sure you would have done the same thing," Lana replied modestly.

"You have quite an extraordinary girl their Mister Kent," Lex said. "If there's anyway I can repay you?"

"Drive slower," Jonathon said as he led his daughter up the embankment to their waiting truck.

Lex turned around to look at his car which was being lifted up out of the river. The roof seemed to be peeled back, but Lex didn't really know why. Still there was no way Lana did that.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That night at the Clark farm Lana was stargazing, however the gaze of her telescope fell from the sky and instead came to focus on Clark Lang's Aunt's house. Lana watched with excitement as he sat out on the porch. Suddenly another person came into view. It was one of the girls on the cheerleading team. Lana's face fell but she kept watching. Whitney then showed up with another girl. They had a brief discussion. Clark then took his chain from around his neck and handed it to Whitney. Lana finally looked away from the telescope and sat dejectedly nearby.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day as Lana was coming home from school she looked up to see a brand new Dodge Ram pickup truck sitting in the driveway with a blue ribbon tied on the front.

"Hey Mom, who's truck?" Lana called to her mother who was getting onto the tractor.

"Yours," Her mother replied. "It's a gift from Lex Luthor."

She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a card and handed it to Lana. Lana quickly opened the card and read it aloud, "Dear Lana. Always in your debt. Drive safely. Maniac in the Porsche. I don't believe it. Where are the keys?"

"Your father has them," Martha said.

Lana's face fell a bit. She knew that her father didn't like the Luthor's.

Jonathon Kent was operating a shredder. As he saw Lana approaching her shut the machine off to talk to his daughter.

"I know how much you want." Jonathon said, "But you can't keep it."

"Why not?" Lana asked, "I saved the guy's life."

"So you think you deserve a prize?" Jonathon asked.

"That's not what I meant," Lana said. "Look how 'bout you drive the new one and I'll drive the old one. Everybody wins."

"It's not about winning Lana," Jonathon said.

"It's not like the Luthor's can't afford it," Lana argued.

"Do you wanna know why that is?" Jonathon asked his daughter with a slightly exasperated tone. Do you remember Mister Bell? We used to go fishing on his property. How about Mister Guy? He used to send us pumpkins every Halloween. Well Lionel Luthor promised to cut them in on a deal. He sent them flashy gifts. Only once they'd sold him their property he went back on his word. He had them evicted."

"So you're judging Lex on what his father did?" Lana asked.

"No Lana, I'm not." Jonathon replied. "I just wanna make sure that you know where the money came from that bought that truck."

And angry Lana began to storm up into the loft.

"Lana," Jonathon called after her. "I know you're upset, but it's normal."

Lana threw her bag down and spun around angrily, "Normal?" she asked.

She went over the shredder and flipped it on, "How 'bout this?" she asked, "Is this normal?"

She plunged her hand down into the machine. The machine began struggling as Jonathon thought it was slicing into her hand. He ran forward to pull her arm out of the machine. As soon as he got it out he looked at it but her arm was completely fine.

"I didn't dive in after Lex's car," Lana said. "It hit me at sixty miles an hour. Does that sound normal to you? I'd give anything to be normal."

She walked up the steps into the loft leaving Jonathon Kent to contemplate what to do next.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana was sitting unhappily in the loft beside her telescope. Her father came up the stairs.

"It's time Lana," he said.

"Time for what?" Lana asked miserably.

"The truth," Jonathon replied as he sat down. "I want you to take a look at something."

He unwrapped a cloth from a strange metal object with odd symbols on it.

"I think it's from your parents." Jonathon said. "Your real, parents."

Lana picked up the metal object and looked at it.

"What's it say?" Lana asked.

"I've been trying to decipher it for years." Jonathon said. "But it's not written in any language known to man."

"What do you mean?" Lana asked looking at her father curiously.

"Your real parents weren't exactly from around, here." Jonathon said slowly.

"Where're they from?" Lana asked.

Jonathon didn't know what to say. However he made the mistake of looking at Lana's telescope.

"What are you trying to tell me dad?" Lana asked somewhat amused. "That I'm from another planet?"

Jonathon looked back at his daughter warily.

"And I suppose that you stashed my spaceship in attic," Lana joked.

"Actually it's in the storm cellar," Jonathon replied.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Down in the storm cellar Jonathon Kent pulled the cover off of something that Clark had always wondered what it was but curiosity never got the better of him. It was a smooth metallic pod that was definitely not of earthly origins.

"This is how you came into our world Lana," Jonathon said. "It was the day of the meteor shower."

"This is a joke right?" Lana asked.

However the look that her father gave her said that he was quite serious. Lana turned around not sure what to think. She was still upset with her father for not letting her have the truck.

"Why didn't you tell me about this before?" Lana demanded of her father angrily.

"We wanted to protect you," Jonathon answered.

"Protect me from what?" Lana inquired angrily.

Before Jonathon could reply Lana lashed out, "You should have told me."

Then she bolted out of the storm cellar at a speed that no human being could ever hope to achieve.

"Lana!" her father called after her to no avail.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay, well that's the end of Chapter 2. Fun times await in Chapter 3. If you wish to talk about this story or just Smallville in general join my channel on the otherside IRC, network irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Clark got off his horse and tied it to a tree. He carried a bouquet of flowers into the forest graveyard. Off in the distance a branch snapped.

"Who's there?" Clark called out.

"It's me, Lana," Lana replied stepping out from behind some trees to stand in front of an angel shaped gravestone unintentionally so that it looked as if she had angel wings.

"Lana Kent?" Clark asked. "What are you doing creeping around the woods?"

"You'd never believe me if I told you." Lana replied, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you."

"Lana wait," Clark said. "I just wasn't expecting to see anyone out here. Are you okay?"

He walked over to stand next to Lana.

"I'm hanging out in a graveyard," Lana replied. "Does that strike you as okay behaviour?"

"Hey, I'm here too," Clark answered.

"Good point," Lana said trying very hard to choke back some tears that were threatening to come flooding. "What's your story?"

Clark stepped in front of Lana, "Can you keep a secret?" he asked.

"I'm the Fort Know of secrets," Lana replied.

"I… came out here to talk with my parents," Clark confessed. "You must think I'm pretty weird. You know, conversing with dead people."

"No I don't think you're weird Clark," Lana replied. "Do you remember them?"

"They died when I was 3," Clark said.

"I'm sorry," Lana said.

"It's not your fault, Lana." Clark said. "Come on, I'll introduce you."

He led Lana over to a specific gravestone, "Mom, Dad. This is Lana Kent."

He turned to Lana, "Say hi."

"Hi," Lana said with a nervous wave at the gravestone.

"Yeah she is kinda shy," Clark said kneeling down. "How should I know? Mom wants to know if you're upset about a guy."

Lana shook her head, "No." she said quietly.

"Dad wants to know if you're upset about a girl," Clark said.

"No," Lana denied quickly.

Clark chuckled, "He has a twisted sense of humour she explained. But seriously Lana, why are you out here?"

Lana stared into Clark's eyes, "Clark did you ever feel like your life was supposed to be something different?" she asked.

Clark nodded, "Sometimes I dream I'm at school. Waiting for Nell to pick me up. But she doesn't come. So my parents drive up. They're not dead they're just really late. And we get in their car and we drive back to my real life in Metropolis. That's usually when I wake up. But for a minute, I'm totally happy. Till I realize I'm still alone."

There was a period of awkward silence. Lana felt she had to do something to cheer Clark up.

"What's that Mrs. Lang?" she asked. "Yeah I'll tell him. Your mom wants you to know that you're never alone. That she's always looking over you, no matter what.

Clark smiled at Lana.

"What's that Mister Lang? Your dad thinks you're a shoe-in to replace Whitney on the football team." Clark said.

"Did they really say all that?" Clark asked.

"Oh yeah," Lana replied. "They're quite chatty once you get them started."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Thanks for walking me home," Lana said.

"No problem," Clark replied. "Do you realize this is the longest conversation we've ever had? We should do it again."

"Yeah we should," Lana agreed. "So are you going to the dance."

"Yeah," Clark said. "Whitney has set me up already."

"Right," Lana said trying to hide her disappointment. "Of course."

"How about you?" Clark asked.

"No," Lana replied, "I figured I'd sit it out."

"Well," Clark said. "If you change your mind, I might just save you a dance."

He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, "Good night Lana."

Clark walked off back towards his own home. What he didn't know was that Whitney had followed him all the way here.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day Lana went to the Luthor mansion to return the truck. She quickly found herself lost in the expansive building.

"Hello?" She called up a stairwell.

She stepped into a room and suddenly two people burst in fencing. One managed to get the sword on the other. The loser hurled his sword angrily at the wall. It struck just a foot away from where Lana was standing and stuck into the wall.

"Lana?" Lex said taking off his protective mask, "I didn't see you."

"I uh, buzzed but no one answered," Lana stammered.

"How did you get through the gate?" Lex asked.

Lana didn't want to tell him the real way she did it, "I kinda squeezed through the bars," she said. "Look if this is a bad time…"

"Oh no, nah, no." Lex cut her off. "I think Heike has sufficiently kicked my ass for the day."

"This is a great place," Lana commented.

"Well if you're dead and in the market for something to haunt," Lex joked.

"I meant, it's roomy," Lana corrected herself.

"It's the Luthor ancestral home," Lex said. "Or so my father claims. He had it shipped over from Scotland stone by stone."

"Yeah I remember," Clark said, "The truck rolled in for weeks but nobody ever moved in."

"My father had no intention of living here," Lex told him. "He's never even stepped through the front door."

"Then why'd he ship it over?" Lana asked.

"Because he could," Lex replied.

"So how the new ride?" Lex asked Lana.

"That's why I'm here," Lana said.

"What's the matter?" Lex asked. "You don't like it?"

"No it's not that," Lana replied. "It's just… I can't keep it."

"Lana, you saved my life," Lex said. "I think it's the least I can do."

Lana looked at the ground not wanting to give the real reason.

"Your father doesn't like me, does he?" Lex asked. "It's okay. I've been bald since I was nine. I'm used to people judging me before they get to know me."

"It's nothing personal," Lana said. "He's just not crazy about your dad."

"I guess he figures that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree?" Lex asked. "Understandable. What about you Lana? Did you fall far from the tree?"

Lana didn't know how to reply.

"I'd better go," she said handing the keys to Lex. "Thanks for the truck."

"Lana," Lex called after her. "Do you believe a man can fly?"

"Sure," Lana said. "In a plane."

"Nah I'm not talking about that," Lex said. "I'm talking about soaring through the cloud with nothing but air beneath you."

"People can't fly Lex," Lana said.

"I did," Lex said. "After the accident when my heart stopped. It was the most, exhilarating two minutes of my life. I flew over Smallville and for the first time, I didn't see a dead end. I saw a new beginning. Thanks to you I have a second chance. We have a future Lana and I don't want anything to stand in the way of our friendship."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just another reminder if you wanna talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Chloe and Pete were being curious and were outside the scene of the latest attack. The victim was put on a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance.

"That's the third guy this week," Pete said.

"And they're all former jocks." Chloe added.

Pete then noticed a bunch of people looking with confusion at skinny kid who looked to be about their age. He was standing near the ambulance watching them load the victim in. He didn't seem quite as concerned as everyone else that was gathered.

"Who the weirdo?" Pete asked.

"I dunno," Chloe replied looking herself. "Let's check him out."

Chloe raised her camera and quickly took a picture of the guy.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not long afterwards they were gathered in the Torch, the school newspaper, office along with Lana looking over some yearbooks.

"His name is Jeremy Creek," Chloe said pointing to a picture in an ten year old year book. "This is a picture of him twelve years ago. This is a picture of him that I took four hours ago."

Chloe indicated the digital picture on the computer that she had taken earlier and uploaded. The person in the two pictures looked identical.

"That's impossible," Lana said. "He'd be like twenty-six today. It must be a kid that looks like him."

"My money was on the evil twin theory," Pete said. "Till we checked his missing persons."

"Jeremy disappeared from the state infirmary a few days ago where he'd been in a coma for twelve years. They say he suffered from massive electrolyte imbalance," Chloe explained.

"That's why he hasn't aged a day," Pete added.

"So you're telling me that he just woke up?" Lana asked.

"Well there was a huge electrical storm and the hospital's generator went down. When it came back on, Jeremy was gone." Chloe replied.

"The electricity must have charged him up like a Duracell," Pete said.

"And now he's back in Smallville putting former jocks into comas," Lana finished. "Why?"

"Because twelve years ago today they chose Jeremy Creek, as the scarecrow," Pete replied ominously.

Lana picked up a newspaper clipping off of Chloe's desk, "Comatose boys found in field twenty yards from Meteor Strike," she said reading the title of the article aloud.

"The exposure to the blast must have done something to his body," Chloe hypothesised.

"No this can't be right," Lana said.

"I think you oughta show her," Pete said to Chloe.

"Show me what?" Lana asked.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pete and Chloe led Lana to a room that Lana thought was a photo lab.

"It started out as a scrap book," Chloe tried to explain. "And well it just kind of mutated."

"What is it?" Lana asked.

"I call it the Wall of Weird," Chloe said as she stepped up to the wall that was completely covered in different clippings and pictures. "It's every strange, bizarre and unexplained event that's happened in Smallville since the meteor shower. That's when it all began. The town went schizo. So what do you think?"

"Why didn't you tell about this?" Lana asked as she stepped forward to look at some of the clippings more closely.

"Do you tell me everything that happens in your life?" Chloe retorted. "We all keep secrets Lana."

Lana wasn't paying attention. Her eyes fell on a time magazine cover. The title read, _Heartbreak in the Heartland_. Lana looked closely at the little boy on the cover. He seemed so familiar.

"Clark?" Lana muttered. "My fault. It's all my fault."

Lana suddenly turned and walked out of the room leaving Pete and Chloe standing there rather dumbfounded. They looked at each other in confusion.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Lana was leaving the school she felt an arm grab her from behind.

"Chloe just leave me alone," Lana began.

However when the arm had turned her around; Lana found herself looking straight into the eyes of Whitney.

"Congratulations Lana," Whitney said, "You're this year's scarecrow."

"I thought only guys could be the scarecrow." Lana said.

"After I heard you talking to Clark last night I had a bit of a change of heart," Whitney said.

Whitney shoved Lana to the ground roughly. Lana stared up at the chain hanging around Whitney's neck. It was Clark's chain which was adorned with a piece of meteor rock. Lana felt ill suddenly and was unable to struggle against Whitney. She just stared blankly at the odd green rock. Whitney noticed her staring at it.

"You want this? Huh?" He asked.

He pulled it off from around his neck, "Good. Because I don't think there's anything lucky about this stupid piece of rock."

He tied the chain around Lana's neck. A truck then pulled up quickly and Whitney and two other football team members picked Lana up and put her roughly in the back of the truck. None of them noticed Jeremy Creek watching from nearby.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana was strung up out in Riley's field. She didn't really know how long she'd been out there but the sun had set and it was now dark. The football players had been kind enough to leave her clothes on the ground. They left her in nothing but her bra, panties and Clark's meteor rock chain. They had painted a big red 'S' across her chest. It had been temperate weather earlier but it was cold now. Lana was shivering and she was feeling sick.

"It never changes," someone said from nearby.

Lana looked to see Jeremy Creek standing there. At this point in time Lana didn't care what had happened to Jeremy or if he involved with putting those former jocks into comas.

"Help me," Lana asked weakly.

"Hurts doesn't it?" Jeremy asked.

"You're Jeremy," Lana said struggling to breath.

"I thought if I punished them it would stop," Jeremy said. "But it never stops."

Jeremy began to walk away.

"Wait," Lana called. "Where are you going?"

"Homecoming dance," Jeremy replied. "I never made it to mine."

"Get me down," Lana demanded. "Please?"

"You're safer here," Jeremy said as he walked away into the seemingly endless rows of cornstalks.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lex Luthor was leaving one of his Luthor Corp fertilizer plants when his headlights caught a figure jumping over the fence into one of the corn fields. Lex stopped his car and stuck his head out the window to get a better look. He immediately recognized the kid who had just jumped the fence. It was the same kid who had been tied up like a scarecrow on the day of the meteor shower. The day Lex had lost all his hair. Lex quickly got out of his car but by the time he had the kid was gone.

Lex was about to get back into his car when a voice called out, "Help me."

Lex grabbed a flashlight from his car and hopped the fence into the cornfield trying to find the source of the voice. He stumbled across Lana strung up like a scarecrow.

"Lana?" he asked.

Lana looked up at him, squinting at the flashlight beam that was directed at her face. Lex began to untie Lana from her predicament.

"Who did this to you?" Lex asked.

"Doesn't matter," Lana replied as her arms were set free.

She fell to the ground as her bonds were released and managed to get rid of the necklace around her neck. Immediately she began to feel better. Lana grabbed her clothes.

"Lana, you need to see a doctor," Lex said.

"I'll be okay," Lana replied as she ran off into the cornfield.

"At least let me give you a ride," Lex called after her but to no avail.

Lex looked at the ground where Lana had been. He noticed the necklace she had dropped. He bent down to pick it up and examine it. He didn't know why but for some reason he had a hunch that this little rock would be important.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just another reminder if you wanna talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Jeremy Creek arrived at Smallville High, he had a plan to use the school's sprinkler system to get back at everyone who was in there. He had pried open the box to the school's fire sprinkler system and was about to turn it on.

"Jeremy," someone called to him.

Jeremy turned around to see who it was. He was somewhat surprised to see the girl who had just been tied up out in the field as this year's scarecrow standing there, now dressed and looking perfectly fine.

"You need to stop this," Lana said.

"I don't know how you got here," Jeremy said with slight confusion on his face. "But you should have stayed away."

"I won't let you hurt my friends," Lana said defiantly.

"Those people are not your friends," Jeremy said. "The sprinkler system will get them nice and wet, I'll handle the rest."

"They never did anything to you," Lana retorted angrily.

"I'm not doing this for me," Jeremy explained. "I'm doing this for you and for all the others like us."

Lana didn't understand Jeremy's twisted logic.

"What happened to you was my fault." Lana said. "I can understand your pain."

"My pain?" Jeremy asked. "I have a gift, and a purpose and a destiny."

He turned around to go back to the sprinkler system but Lana was standing right in front of him.

"So do I," Lana said.

Jeremy grabbed Lana and began pulsing electricity through her body, but Lana just grabbed him and flung him onto the hood of a nearby truck. Jeremy rolled off and fell to the ground roughly.

"Give it up Jeremy," Lana warned.

Jeremy paid no heed to Lana's warning and instead used his control over electricity to hotwire the truck. He jumped in and began driving the truck straight at Lana. Lana braced herself and tried to stop the truck but she had not footing. The truck began pushing her along as she was sprawled slightly across the hood. Jeremy drove the front of the truck with Lana on it straight into a wall. The wall collapsed sending debris down everywhere. A water pipe burst and water began leaking into the truck where Jeremy was.

From in front of the truck Lana reached up and used the slightly crumpled hood to pull herself to her feet. Inside the truck Jeremy was recovering from the rough jolt he had experienced when the truck had smashed through the wall. Suddenly Jeremy's electrical powers went crazy from all the water. He tried to get out of the truck but the door was jammed against the wall. The truck became charged with electricity sending Lana flying back. Jeremy quickly passed out from all the electricity that was shocking him.

Lana quickly scrambled to her feet and pulled the truck till she could open the door. She ripped the door off and water began pouring out onto the ground. Jeremy lay passed out, his head rest up against the steering wheel. Suddenly the electricity just died out. Lana reached forward to check on Jeremy.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Who are you?" Jeremy asked.

Lana felt more relief than confusion. She was glad her secret wasn't known.

"Where am I?" Jeremy asked.

"I'm Lana Kent," Lana replied. "And you're in Smallville."

Jeremy took this information in with slight confusion, "I wanna go home," he said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Inside Lana found herself standing in the area on the second floor that overlooked the gym. She saw Chloe and Pete having a good time. Clark and Whitney were dancing with their dates and having a great time as well. Then Lana saw Clark and his date kiss. Depressed Lana left the dance. As Lana left the dance she passed three trucks that looked familiar. Lana recognized them as belonging to the guys that had tied her up as a scarecrow out in the field. Suddenly she had great idea.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As everyone was filing out a crowd began to gather. Whitney, Clark and their dates pushed through the crowd to see what it was. Three trucks were stacked up on top each other. Whitney recognized the truck on the bottom as his.

"Who did this to my truck?" Whitney demanded angrily but nobody was stepping forward to accept responsibility.

Everyone else was having a good laugh including Clark.

"It's not funny Clark," Whitney said angrily.

Clark thought he noticed somebody walking away from well behind the trucks but he wasn't really sure.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana was up in the loft stargazing. It seemed to be her favourite activity of late.

"Your grandfather gave me that telescope when I was about your age," Jonathon said as he came up the stairs into the loft.

"I came down stairs for breakfast one morning and there it was." He reminisced. "Are you okay?"

Lana sat down on the desk beside the telescope. She looked up at her father, "Can I answer that in about five years?" she asked.

Jonathon Kent chuckled, "Yeah." He replied and then went back down the stairs.

"Dad," Lana called from the top of the stairs. "I glad you and mom were the ones that found me."

"We didn't find you Lana," Jonathon said with a smile. "You found us."

Lana turned on her radio and went back to her stargazing.

"I didn't see you tonight Lana," a voice said from behind her.

Lana looked up with a start to see Clark standing there still dressed in his tuxedo.

"Clark, what are you doing here?" Lana stammered.

"I saved you that dance," Clark replied.

He put his arms around Chloe and she reciprocated. They both began to slowly dance to the music from Lana's radio.

"Everything okay Lana?" Clark asked her.

"It's perfect," Lana replied with a smile.

Lana suddenly snapped out of her day dream to the sound of a horn honking. Several cars drove by with excited high school students celebrating the football team's victory earlier that day. But Lana's view went past that to the house across the way; Clark's Aunt Nell's house. Standing alone out front waving to the passing cars was Clark. Lana watched as Clark went up the steps onto the porch.

"Thanks for the dance Clark," she whispered into the night.

Clark suddenly turned around and Lana thought that Clark had heard her. But then Clark turned and went into the house. Lana kept staring off into the night even after Clark had long since disappeared from her sight.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just another reminder if you wanna talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Lana Kent was sitting up in her loft, looking out at the expansive fields of nothing but cornstalks. She was imagining what life would have been like back on her home planet, where ever that was. She tried to image what her real parents were like but nothing came to her.

"What ya thinkin' about?" Jonathon Kent asked from behind her.

"Nothing," Lana lied, she didn't want to let make the man she considered her father to feel jealous.

"So are you planning on going to school today?" Jonathon asked.

Startled Lana looked down at her watch. The bus was supposed to be arriving in five minutes and she wasn't even ready yet.

"It's times like this that I'm glad I've got my powers," Lana said.

"Lana, you know that you can't keep using your powers when ever you're late. People will begin to get suspicious." Jonathon reprimanded his daughter.

"It's not like I'm going to run all the way to school," Lana said, "You're gonna drive me."

She then flew past her father faster than any normal person could to finish getting ready for school. Jonathon Kent sighed to himself, there was just no way he could say no to his daughter. He sighed and headed down stairs and grabbed his keys. By the time he got to the truck Lana was already there waiting, ready for school.

"I don't want this to become a common habit," her father said.

"Don't worry dad," Lana said as she munched on a Pop Tart™. "I won't."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jonathon Kent pulled up to the school just before the school bus arrived.

"Have a good day sweetheart," he said to Lana.

"I will Dad," Lana replied giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before getting out of the truck.

As she was getting out she bumped her head against the door frame.

"Are you okay?" Jonathon asked.

"Yeah I'm fine," Lana said shaking her head. "I dunno about the door frame."

Jonathon looked at the door frame. Where Lana's head had hit there was now a small dent.

"Don't worry about honey," Jonathon said. "I'll see you when you get home from school this afternoon."

"See you later dad," Lana said closing the passenger side door.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey Lana," Chloe greeted as Lana came into the Torch. "You missed the bus again this morning."

"Yeah," Lana admitted. "My dad was nice enough to give me a ride to school. So anything new with your Wall of Weird?"

"Nope," Chloe replied. "Anything new with you?"

Lana suddenly saw Chloe as just a mere skeleton, outlined faintly by her flesh and clothes. Lana shook her head and blink and suddenly everything was back to normal.

"Is everything alright Lana?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah it's fine," Lana replied. "I just, I banged my head getting out of the truck this morning and I've been having some uh, dizzy spells. That's all."

"Ah, I know what you mean," Chloe said turning back to her computer.

"Well look if there nothing going on I think I'm going to go home and lie down," Lana said. "Try and get over these dizzy spells."

"Sure go ahead," Chloe said. "It's not like you're forced to stay here."

"Well I'll see you tomorrow then," Lana said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hi honey," Martha Kent greeted her daughter as she came back home from school, "How was school."

"It was alright," Lana mumbled.

"What's wrong?" Martha asked, "Are you not feeling very well."

"I'm feeling fine," Lana said. "It's just I've been having these weird vision flashes, like I'm looking at things through an X-ray machine or something."

"What do you mean?" Martha asked.

"Exactly what I said," Lana replied dropping her backpack and grabbing a can of Dr Pepper™ from the fridge. "I've been having these weird flashes where I can see through things. It's weird."

Lana sat the can down and looked at her mother. Suddenly everything was like looking at an X-ray again. Lana blinked once more and it was gone.

"There it goes again," Lana said. "There's no way that I should know that you've got a quarter and a nickel in your jacket pocket."

Martha Kent gave her daughter a curious look and then reached into her jacket pocket. She pulled out the contents and sat them on the counter. A plastic comb, a few tissues, a quarter and a nickel.

"That's amazing…" Martha said.

"Yeah it's great and all," Lana agreed half-heartedly. "If only I could control it."

"Well maybe it's like your super speed," Martha said. "At first you weren't able to control that but you eventually learned."

"I hope so," Lana said. "I mean getting flashes like that could get really distracting."

"I'm almost certain that you'll be able to get over it." Martha assured her daughter.

"Thanks Mom," Lana said giving her mother a hug.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Across town an unpopular girl named Tina Greer was standing in front of her mirror.

"He doesn't even notice you," Tina said the reflection. "You're not important to him at all. He'll never notice you. But that's okay. Because you can change. You can be somebody that he does care about."

The reflection in the mirror changed to look exactly like Lana Kent, "You can be somebody he cares about deeply." Tina said in Lana's voice.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana was in the girls' bathroom standing in front of the sink. The flashes of X-ray vision were becoming more frequent and were beginning to drive her a little crazy. She splashed water on her face hoping it would help, but to know avail.

"You not feeling well?" some asked from behind Lana.

Lana looked up at the mirror to see who was behind her but she didn't believe what she saw. She turned around to come face to face with the person and found herself face to face with, herself.

"Who are you?" Lana asked.

"Don't worry Lana," the other Lana asked, "I'm here to ease your pain."

The other Lana pulled out a knife and rammed it against Lana's stomach. The knife black snapped as it hit Lana's skin. The other Lana looked at the broken knife, "Piece of garbage," she muttered. "Oh well, see you later."

Suddenly the other Lana changed shape into some girl that Lana didn't recall ever seeing before and ran out of the bathroom. Lana was left standing there dumbfounded the remains of a broken knife at her feet and thoughts in her head that were trying to figure out just what that girl wanted, and how she was able to change shapes. Lana tried to use her new X-ray vision to follow the girl. Lana found that she had finally gained control of her X-ray vision much to her relief. She quickly spotted the girl hurrying away from the bathroom. What struck Lana as odd however was how her skeleton seemed to glow a strange green compared to the white one everyone else's skeleton. Lana bent down and picked up the broken knife. This was something that she needed to talk to Chloe about.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just another reminder if you wanna talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Chloe," Lana said rushing into the _Torch_ office. "We need to talk."

"What's up Lana?" Chloe asked.

"I was just in the bathroom when some girl attacked me," Lana said.

"What?" Chloe said in slight disbelief.

Lana pulled out the broken knife and dropped it on Chloe's desk. "She attacked me with a knife Chloe. She was trying to kill me."

"Lana this knife is made of carbon steel." Chloe said. "How did it break?"

"I don't know," Lana said trying to deflect attention from the broken knife, knowing full well how it broke. "I guess I just got lucky that the knife was flawed. Look we need to find out who this girl is."

"Well what did she look like?" Chloe asked.

"That's the really creepy part," Lana answered. "At first she looked exactly like me."

"What?" Chloe was completely confused.

"She looked exactly like me," Lana said. "Well she did at first. But then when the knife broke, she suddenly turned into some other girl I don't recall seeing before. I thought your 'Wall of Weird' might have something about this."

"I don't have anything about a Doppelganger in my wall of weird," Chloe replied. "But if we can identify this girl we might be able to figure out what's up. So what did this girl look like?"

Chloe pulled up a list of all the students in the school on her computer. There was a picture of every student beside every entry. After just a few entries they reached a picture which Lana instantly recognized.

"That's her," Lana exclaimed. "That's the girl that attacked me."

"Alright," Chloe said. "Her name is Tina Greer. I'll see what I can pull up."

"I think I'm going to pay visit to her," Lana declared.

"Lana, she just tried to kill you," Chloe said.

"Well as long as she doesn't pull a gun on me I think I'll be okay," Lana said.

Chloe turned to check on something her internet search had just pulled up, "Lana you might not want to…"

Chloe stopped her sentence there because Lana was gone. Chloe shrugged and began reading the article she had just discovered.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana reached the address she'd seen on Chloe's computer and knocked on the door. However nobody answered the door.

"Doesn't look like she's here," Lana muttered to herself.

She was about to force the door open when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Lana spun around to find herself looking at Whitney.

"Looking for me?" he said.

He punched Lana in the face. Lana faked getting hurt and went down with the punch. Whitney morphed back into Tina. She stood over Lana and pressed her foot against Lana's throat.

"Now why don't you just be a good girl and die?" she asked.

Lana easily grabbed Tina's leg and dropped her to the ground.

"Not today," Lana said.

Tina picked herself up off the ground and ran at Lana screaming. She slammed Lana into the door, the force of them hitting the door caused it to open up making them both tumble inside. Lana immediately began feeling ill, she looked around the room. Her eyes quickly came to rest on a green rock sitting on a table near the door. The rock was glowing oddly.

Tina immediately noticed Lana's condition.

"There's something different about you Lana Kent," Tina said with a smirk. "Something that you hide from everybody."

"Whatever," Lana said struggling for breath.

"The knife I stabbed you with was brand new," Tina said. "There was no way it should have broken."

"Maybe you just bought a flawed knife," Lana mumbled.

"No," Tina said. "Now, I don't think I can kill you."

Her eyes flashed to the green glowing rock. "But I'm sure I can keep you out of the way long enough for me to deal with your friend Chloe."

"Why?" Lana asked, "What did Chloe ever do to you? What did I ever do to you?"

"Nothing," Tina replied. "But both of you have perfect lives. You both have loving families. You both have friends. You both have everything that I've never had why do I deserve to live life like an outcast. It's not fair. So if I can't have a life like that I'll do the next best thing."

"You're going to steal it," Lana muttered.

"Yeah and there's nothing you can do to stop me," Tina said.

She picked up the rock and set it down next to Lana. Lana groaned in agony as the rock sapped her strength. Tina morphed back into the body of Whitney, "Now if you'll excuse me," she said. "I've got somewhere to be."

She then left the house slamming the door shut behind her.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chloe Sullivan had just finished reading one of the most fascinating articles she'd ever come across. She'd learned about how Tina Greer was born with a strange and rare bone condition. Apparently exposure to X-ray's projected through a piece of meteor rock was able to help cure the condition. _Perhaps the exposure had the side effect of turning Tina Greer into a natural doppelganger_, Chloe theorized. She picked up her phone and began to dial Lana's cell phone; she had to let Lana know what was going on.

"Hey Chloe," someone said from the door.

Chloe looked up from the phone to see Whitney. "Uh hi Whitney," she said. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Actually there is," Whitney replied coming across the room to Chloe's desk.

"I hope it's not your homework," Chloe said.

"No," Whitney explained. "I was just wondering if you could do a favour for me."

"What's that?" Chloe inquired.

"Die," Whitney said as he began strangling Chloe.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana pitifully was trying to crawl away from glowing meteor rock. She'd tried to stand up several times but was unable to. Instead she was slowly inching her way away in the hopes that when she got far enough away she'd be able to get out of there and hopefully still be in time to save Chloe.

She dragged herself through the door frame out of the front hall into the living room. As she got there she was able to get up on to her knees and crawl further away. Gasping for breath Lana wondered why Tina had a meteor rock on display in her front hallway. But then she realized there wasn't time for that. She quickly took off at super speed to the high school where she hoped she'd find Chloe still alive.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Whitney what's wrong with you?" Chloe managed to choke out.

"Tina, let Chloe go." Lana called from the door way.

Tina roughly tossed Chloe aside. Chloe banged her head off a filing cabinet and fell to the floor unconscious. Tina shifted back to her normal form.

"Why do you have to ruin my plans to have a normal life?" Tina said.

"Your life can't be that bad," Lana said.

"You have no idea," Tina said. "You don't know what it's like to have no friends. No parents. You don't know what it's like."

"No parents?" Lana said. "Don't you live with your mother?"

"I killed my mother," Tina said coldly.

"What? Why?" Lana asked.

"She discovered about my, ability. She wanted to send me to be researched on." Tina said. "I don't want to be a medical experiment again."

"I can't say I blame you on that one," Lana said. "But that doesn't give you the right to harm me or my friend. Or anyone else for that matter."

Tina stepped towards the open window.

"Tina don't. We can get you help. You can't keep running away from your problems." Lana said.

"Goodbye Lana Kent," Tina said as jumped out the window.

Lana ran to the window. Tina morphed into someone Lana didn't immediately recognize and took off at sprinting speed. Lana wanted to chase after her but then she remembered Chloe. Lana went to help her unconscious friend.

"Ugh, what happened?" Chloe said, "One minute I was talking the next minute Whitney started attacking me."

"That wasn't Whitney," Lana said. "That was Tina Greer."

"Huh?" Chloe said.

"I'll try and explain."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just another reminder if you wanna talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"So let me get this straight," Chloe said. "Tina Greer can take the form of anybody she wants and she can mimic them perfectly?"

"Yeah," Lana replied.

"And remind me again why she was trying to kill me?" Chloe asked.

"She wanted to take over your life." Lana answered. "She's just really lonely. A bit insane and a murderer as well, but the point is she's lonely."

"I know," Chloe said. "I mean until today I didn't even know who she was and I usually make it a habit of mine to know everybody."

"She was going to be turned in for experimentation by her mother. Can you imagine how that must feel?" Lana asked. "I don't think my mother would ever do that to me."

"Well just think about who would want to utilize her powers," Chloe said. "I mean she'd be a perfect spy for the CIA or any of those other agencies. If she brainwashed by terrorist or a foreign country she could be an excellent assassin."

"Chloe you not helping," Lana said. "We can't worry about who might want Tina Greer later. We need to stop her secret from ever getting out and we need to stop her. She may not be trying to kill us again but who knows who she'll go after next."

"You're right," Chloe agreed. "We've got to try and find her. But uh, where do we start?"

"I don't know," Lana said. "But I've got an idea."

"Okay," Chloe said picking herself up and sitting her chair, "I'll just see if there's anything I can find about her past that might give us a…"

But Lana was already gone. Chloe didn't recall seeing her leave but she just shrugged and went about trying to hack into Tina Greer's school records.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana was trying to follow Tina Greer's path as she saw her run away from the school. Lana figured that she was running back to her home. She decided to take a short cut across the football field. Just in case Tina was hiding on her, since Tina did know about Lana's powers. As she walked across the field she noticed that Clark Kent was still there, getting in a little extra practice. He noticed her walking across the field.

"Hey Lana!" He called.

Lana waved at him brief and continued on her way. Suddenly she heard the sound of someone falling to the ground. She spun around and saw Tina standing over top of Clark holding a baseball bat. Clark lay on the ground unconscious. Lana sped over to Tina.

"You leave him alone," Lana threatened.

"Or what?" Tina asked pulling her meteor rock from her pocket.

Lana felt her knees buckle and she fell to the ground.

"I am sick and tired of you interfere with me," Tina said. "I'm going to finish you off and then deal with your friend here."

Tina stuck the Kryptonite in Lana's hand and then shoved Lana down the nearby embankment and then walked out of Lana's site. Lana dropped the Kryptonite and it got stuck halfway up the embankment. Lana began crawling out of the small ditch at the bottom and found herself on the sidewalk alongside the school. Suddenly she heard the roaring of a car engine. Lana looked up to see a truck, Whitney's truck if she wasn't mistaken, roaring at her with Tina behind the wheel. Lana felt herself recovering but she wasn't able to get out of the way. She ducked and hoped that the truck wouldn't kill her.

The truck hit Lana square in the back with its bumper. The bumper rode up Lana's back and sent the truck up into the air over top of Lana. It did a half barrel roll and landed on its roof. Lana stood up and checked on Tina. Tina was unconscious in there. Lana quickly dragged Tina out. Just then Chloe and Clark came running up.

"What happened?" Chloe asked.

"She flipped Whitney's truck," Lana said. "What does it look like?"

"Is she gonna be okay?" Clark questioned.

"I dunno," Lana said. "I just don't know."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Paramedics arrived at the scene pretty quickly and took Tina to the hospital. Whitney showed up and went completely nuts about his truck threatening to press charges and what not. Lana and Chloe went to regroup in the _Torch_ office.

"What do you think is going to happen to Tina now?" Chloe asked. "I mean the paramedics said she would be okay. She just needs to be in the hospital for a few days."

"I don't know," Lana replied. "She's in a lot of trouble now. They found out she killed her mother and Whitney is pressing charges against her for the truck. I'm worried that she might get desperate."

Chloe nodded. "You're right. And we know she's willing to kill to get what she wants."

"I'm gonna go over to the hospital to check up on her." Lana said.

"Lana I don't think you should…" Chloe said.

But Lana had already left. Chloe left standing there wondering if her friend would be alright.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana arrived at the hospital.

"Hi," Lana said to the receptionist, "I'm here to see Tina Greer."

"She's in a private room," the receptionist told her. "It's up on the second floor."

"Thank you," Lana replied.

Lana walked up the stairs to the room. As she got there a nurse was leaving the room, closing the door behind her.

"How is she doing?" Lana asked.

"She's fine," the nurse replied. "She's just sleeping right now."

Lana nodded but she had a feeling in her gut that the nurse wasn't telling the truth. Lana opened the door a crack. The nurse was lying on the ground in her underwear. Lana knew immediately that Tina had stolen her uniform and escaped. Lana checked that the nurse was at least alive, which she was. She then went to her X-Ray vision. She hoped that she'd be able to pick out Tina's skeleton which had glowed an odd green the first time she'd used it. It took Lana a while to pick it out in the crowded hospital but she eventually did. Tina was leaving the hospital. Lana was about to super speed after her when another nurse came into the room.

"What happened here?" the nurse demanded.

"She got away," Lana said. "She attacked me and the nurse here. You watch her I'm going to try and catch her."

"I think that's a matter for the cops," the nurse said.

"She'll listen to me," Lana lied. "I'm her friend."

Lana had to run at normal speed out of the hospital and by then she had lost Tina, but Lana had an idea on where she might be.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana burst through the front door of Tina's house. Unlike last time there was no meteor rock to make her feel ill.

"Don't try and stop me," Tina said.

Lana looked up. At the top of the stairs looking down at her stood Tina. A rope was tied to her neck and the top banister.

"Tina don't do it," Lana protested. "You can get help."

"Nobody can help me now," Tina said. "I'm a killer. I overheard them talking about sending me away to someone who was interested in my 'condition'."

Lana didn't know what to say she tried to stammer out a reply.

"Goodbye Lana," Tina said. "And thank you. I'll never forget that you tried to help me."

Before Lana could react Tina stepped off the edge of the stairs and began to plummet down. She jerked to a halt about a foot and half from the ground, her neck bent at an awkward angle. Lana was frozen where she was unsure what to do.

"Freeze," someone shouted from behind. "You're trespassing on a crime…"

The police officer stopped in mid sentence. "Holy crap," he muttered. "What happened here? We just got word that she escaped from the hospital."

"She couldn't live with it," Lana replied still standing where she was having not moved. "She jumped…"

"Are you a close friend?" the officer asked.

"I was the closest thing she ever had to a friend," Lana said.

"Are you going to be alright?"

"I think I'll be fine," Lana said. "I just need to be alone."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana was up in the loft sitting beside her telescope. Somehow even the stars which were normally her only comfort in life couldn't remove the feelings of guilt, sadness, anger and confusion she was feeling.

"Lana are you alright?" Jonathon asked as he came up the stairs of the loft. "You didn't eat dinner tonight."

"I'm fine Dad," Lana replied. "At least I am physically. Why did she do it?"

Jonathon sat down beside her and put his arm around her, "Some people just don't know how to deal with their problem or they think that their problems are unmanageable. So they try and solve them the only way they think possible."

"I guess that makes sense," Lana said. "I mean I'd hate to think what may have happened to her. Maybe she had some idea of what that was and she didn't want to face."

"That's usually the reason people do it," Jonathon said.

"Promise me that you'll never do that to me Dad," Lana as she hugged her father.

Jonathon Kent smiled and pulled his daughter close, "Honey you will never have to worry about that happening to me."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read This:

Well that was a sappy ending to that chapter. Oh well. Just another reminder if you wanna talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Don't complain about the sappiness. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"Well, well, well," Pete said. "Look who managed to catch the bus today."

"Come on give me a break," Lana said as she dropped into the seat in front of Pete and Chloe. "I only missed the bus on Monday."

"Sorry Lana, but any day that you managed to catch the bus is a minor miracle," Chloe joked.

"Ha Ha," Lana laughed sarcastically.

"So are the rumours true?" Pete asked.

"What rumours?" Lana inquired curiously.

"The ones about Whitney asking you to the dance." Chloe replied.

Lana was left speechless, "Duh, uh, I, um, ga…" she stammered trying to think of a reply.

The rumour was true. Whitney had asked her to the dance over the phone just last night. Lana was just incredibly surprised that her friends knew about it already. She was yet to actually say yes or no to Whitney.

"What is it to you?" Lana finally managed to spit out.

"Just curious," Pete replied with a smirk.

"You're not actually seriously considering going with a jerk like that, are you?" Chloe asked.

Lana wasn't entirely sure. Sure Whitney wasn't the nicest guy in the world and it was a well known fact that she had a huge crush on Clark, but he was probably already taken since every girl was enamoured with Clark. And Whitney was the quarterback on the football team. Lana couldn't help but feel a little selfish in wanting to go to the dance with one of the more popular guys in school. Then again he did chose her to be the scarecrow at homecoming.

"Maybe," Lana replied finally. "I mean it's not like I'm gonna go with Pete."

"Hey!" Pete and Chloe both said angrily. They had gone to Homecoming together.

"Sorry," Lana apologized with a chuckle. "I couldn't help but take shot you guys there."

"It's you decision Lana," Chloe said. "I just don't have a good feeling about Whitney. Something about him just doesn't seem right."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Whitney managed to corner Lana in the cafeteria in the hopes of getting an answer from her.

"So Lana," he said. "Have you reached a decision yet?"

"I don't know," Lana said trying not to look him in the eye. "There was that scarecrow incident."

"I know," Whitney said. "I'm sorry, and I want to make it up to you by taking you to the dance."

"Really?" Lana asked.

"Yes," Whitney said. "You're a special girl Lana and I want you to know."

Lana didn't have to think about it for even half a second. "Yes Whitney," she said. "I'll go to the dance with you."

"Alright," Whitney smiled, "I'll pick you up at say six o'clock?"

Lana nodded.

"Alright," Whitney said. "I'll see you around."

As he walked away Chloe suddenly appeared from seemingly nowhere.

"That was so phoney," Chloe said. "I can't believe you said yes."

Lana glared at her best friend. "I can't believe it," Lana said. "You sound so totally jealous."

"I am not," Chloe protested.

"Yes you are," Lana said. "Why else would you be eaves dropping and trying to not get me to go to the dance with Whitney?"

"Because I don't think Whitney is everything that he seems to be," Chloe replied.

"This is one time when I think you've taken your investigative skills too far," Lana said.

"Lana he…" Chloe began.

"No," Lana interrupted. "Unless you're going to apologize I don't want to hear it."

Before Chloe could say anything else Lana stormed off to class.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After school as Lana was heading home Clark ran up to her, "Hey Lana," said.

"Hi Clark, what's up?" Lana asked.

"I was just wondering if you were going to the dance with anyone yet." Clark replied. "'Cause if you're available I'd love to take you."

Lana had to hide the emotions that quickly welled up inside her. Was Whitney being truthful or was this just another attempt to ruin her life. He knew that she liked Clark and he'd probably heard Clark mention that he'd like to take her. She would have to talk to Whitney about this, for now she had to try and keep her options available.

"I'd love to go with you Clark," Lana said. "But I'll have to get back to you on that."

She didn't want to disappoint Whitney if he was being sincere, even her gut feeling told her that he wasn't.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Has anyone asked you to the dance yet Lana?" Martha asked her over dinner.

"Two people have," Lana replied.

"Really?" Jonathon said surprised. "Looks like I have a very popular daughter."

"Who asked?" Martha inquired.

"Whitney Fordman and Clark Lang," Lana replied.

"So who are you going to go with?" her father asked anxiously.

"Well Whitney asked first and I said yes," Lana replied. "But I'm wishing I'd waited until Clark asked. I feel like Whitney was trying to stop me from going with Clark."

"You can always turn him down," her mother told her.

"I know," Lana said. "But, I don't know. I guess I'd just feel guilty if I said I couldn't. Especially after I've already said yes. And I do want to go."

"Maybe it won't really matter," Jonathon said. "You know how most of these things end up. The girls and guys separate and congregate in their own areas and only a few people actually dance."

"You're probably right Dad," Lana said. "You usually are."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That Friday, almost right on time Whitney came to pick Lana up. Martha answered the door.

"She's just getting ready," Martha told him. "Lana! Whitney's here."

Upstairs Lana nervously took on last look in the mirror hoping that everything was alright and then headed downstairs to greet Whitney.

"Wow you look good tonight," Whitney said.

Lana smoothed a slight wrinkle out of her white sleeveless dress. Whitney was dressed in a nice dark grey suit with a black tie.

"Well aren't you just a cute couple," Martha said. "Hold on I want to get picture."

"Mom," Lana complained.

"Let your mother take a picture," Jonathon said.

Martha quickly returned and took a picture of couple, although it didn't look overly happy on Lana's part. After saying farewell they headed off to the dance.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read This:

Shorter chapter but it sets up an action packed chapter 10 so stick with it. Just another reminder if you wanna talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Don't complain about the sappiness. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"So Lana," Whitney said as they were driving to the high school. "Are the rumours I here about you true?"

Lana was a little surprised by this question. It didn't seem at all appropriate for a date. "What rumours?" she asked.

"Oh nothing," Whitney said sliding a hand along her thigh.

Lana grabbed his arm and twisted it roughly. Whitney stepped on the brake and stopped the truck. "Ow! What did you do to my shoulder?" he demanded in pain.

"I dislocated it," Lana replied. "I guess you didn't know I took martial arts as a kid."

"You're going to pay for that," Whitney as he reared back his other fist to strike her.

But before Whitney could even get his punch off, Lana slammed his head down into the steering wheel making it honk. She slammed it down a few more time for good measure, making sure not to use all of her strength.

"If you don't mind, I think I'll drive," Lana said to the now unconscious Whitney.

Rather than go to the dance, Lana instead drove to the hospital and dumped Whitney off there and left his truck. She then went to the dance alone.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Have you seen Lana?" Chloe asked Pete at the dance.

The dance was in full swing and just as Jonathon had predicted there were only a few people dancing and everyone else was just milling about talking. Guys and girls for the most part were separate. Pete and Chloe had gone with each other again just as they had for Homecoming.

"Nope," Pete replied. "Haven't seen Whitney either."

Just then Lana entered the gym.

"Oh hey Lana," Chloe called. "Where's Whitney."

"You were right," Lana said. "I shouldn't have trusted Whitney."

"Well where is he?" Chloe asked.

"He at the hospital," Lana replied.

"What happened to him?" Pete asked anxiously.

"I kind of dislocated his shoulder and then bashed his head against the steering wheel when he started making sexual advances on me." Lana replied.

Pete began hopping around trying to contain his laughter and excitement. Whitney tended to bully Pete whenever he got the chance. Even Chloe seemed rather impressed by the news. "Really?" Chloe asked.

Lana nodded, "I dunno I had a bad feeling ever since Clark asked me and I had to turn him down." Lana replied. "So as soon as he started I was just BAM! No, I wasn't gonna put up with it."

"Wait, you dislocated his shoulder?" Pete asked.

"Yeah," Lana replied.

"Ah man, the football team is undefeated so far. If you did that Whitney is probably out for the season." Pete groaned. "We won't win state."

"Well who's the back up?" Lana asked.

"Clark is," Chloe replied gesturing with a nod to Clark who was talking to a friend.

"Well, I think I should give him the good, or bad, new depending how you look at it." Lana said nervously.

"Good luck," Pete said.

Lana made her way over to Clark.

"Hey Lana," Clark greeted. "How are you? Where's Whitney?"

"I'm fine," Lana replied. "But uh Whitney couldn't make it."

"Oh, well what happened?" Clark inquired.

"He um, he dislocated his shoulder," Lana said.

"Really?" Clark asked sort of worried.

Lana nodded. "Yeah, it was kind of my fault."

"Well I'm sure that he probably deserved it," Clark said. "He's a great football mentor but I can't say he's a great friend. I find he's really trying to control my life, you know what I mean?"

"I think I do," Lana replied.

"So I guess he's going to be out for the rest of the season," Clark said grimly.

"That's pretty likely," Lana agreed. "But on the bright side you'll get some playing time. Who knows? Maybe you'll be good enough to take the team to state."

"I don't know about that," Clark said rather embarrassed. "I mean Whitney is a great quarterback. I'd be happy to be half as good as him."

"I'm sure you're twice as good as he is," Lana said.

"Thanks," Clark said. "You have no idea how much it means to me that you have confidence in me."

"So who did you come with?" Lana asked.

"In the end, nobody." Clark answered.

"Well, I don't have a date anymore either," Lana said.

"Are you asking me to ask you to dance?" Clark asked.

"I wasn't very subtle about it," Lana replied.

Clark grinned, "Lana would you care to dance?" he inquired in an overly polite tone.

"I would love to," Lana said.

They stepped out onto the dance floor just as a slow song was playing. It was Cindy Lauper's song _Time After Time_ and Lana felt like the whole scene was taken from a movie she had seen recently but could not name.

"Don't they make a great couple?" Pete asked Chloe from their viewpoint of to the side as they watched Lana and Clark dance.

"I dunno," Chloe replied. "Clark seems a little tall for Lana don't you think?"

Pete looked at Chloe with an odd look on his face, "Nah," he replied. "Height doesn't matter. I think you're a little jealous Chloe."

Chloe became rather flustered, "What me jealous of Lana. No. No." she quickly retorted.

"Yeah I believe you Chloe," Pete said with a smirk on his face.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the dance Clark took Lana home.

"Thanks for taking me home Clark," Lana said. "I had a wonderful time."

"Me too," Clark replied. "I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Definitely," Lana said as she went up the front porch. "Good night Clark."

"Good night Lana," Clark returned.

As soon as she got in the door she was accosted by both her parents.

"So what happened to Whitney Fordman?" Her father asked.

"Whitney got a little bit too, personal." Lana said.

"You didn't hurt him did you?" her mother asked. "He seemed like such a nice guy."

"Believe me mom he's a creep and a jerk. He deserved what he got." Lana said.

"Well what did you do?" Jonathon inquired.

"Well I dislocated his shoulder when he tried to touch me," Lana said.

"You dislocated his shoulder?" Martha questioned as worried look crossed her face.

"Don't worry mom," Lana said. "I was actually trying to do that. Just sort of jerk it out of the socket like in those action movies."

"Lana, you're going to make people suspicious," Jonathon warned.

"Would you rather me have been raped?" Lana retorted.

Jonathon sighed. "Fine," he said. "Just be more careful next time."

"Don't worry I will," Lana said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Little did Lana know however that her actions that night had already drawn attention towards her. A man by the name of Roger Nixon had overheard about what happened to Whitney while at the hospital. Nixon was considered a bit loony by some since he was obsessed with UFO's. He worked in the medical records department in Smallville and found that Lana Kent had no records until she would have been about 3 years old which was when the meteor shower had occurred. Nixon had a crazy theory that Lana Kent was actually an alien in disguise. He had no idea just how close to the truth he was.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read This:

Okay so it wasn't as action packed as I have made it out to be, but now Lana is likely to be exposed, at least slightly so everyone wanted the secret known, well you're getting your wish. Just another reminder if you wanna talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Don't complain about the sappiness. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct.


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Lex Luthor was playing pool in his study when a dishevelled looking man burst through the doors.

"Mister Luthor, Mister Luthor." The man said much too loudly. "I have something you'd like to know about."

Lex Luthor looked at this man with a look of almost disgust, "What could you possibly have to say that would interest me?" Lex asked.

"What if I told you I know about an alien that is living amongst the people of smallville." The man said.

"Well first I'd say 'who are you?'" Lex replied.

"I'm Roger Nixon, I work down at the…" the man started to reply.

"Secondly," Lex cut him off. "I'd ask you, **ARE YOU CRAZY**?"

The man tried to smooth out his hair and fix his rumpled clothing, "Now I know what I'm saying sounds rather odd. But that meteor shower 12 years ago was no freak accident. It was cover for a space ship to come to Smallville. And an alien has been living here ever since." He explained.

"And I assume that you know who this alien is then," Lex said.

"Indeed," the Roger replied. "The alien is none other than Lana Kent."

Lex was not sure how to react. There was definitely something odd about Lana Kent, there was no doubting that, but somehow he didn't think she was an alien. How could she be? That would mean that Lex had fallen in love with an Alien?

"You need a lot more proof before you start throwing about accusations like that," Lex said calmly. "Now get out of my sight."

Disappointed that he had been turned away by the one man he thought would believe him Roger Nixon turned and slowly shuffled out of the Luthor mansion staring at his feet the entire time. He didn't even notice the girl he had accused of being an Alien pass him as he left the room.

"Hey Lex," Lana greeted as she came into the room. "Who was that?"

"Believe it or not that man there accused you of being an Alien." Lex replied. "Can you believe it?"

Lana had an odd feeling in her gut and she suddenly became rather worried inside but outwardly she managed to hide it quite well. "That's ridiculous Lex." Lana said. "If I was alien I think I'd know. And as far I know I've lived on Earth my entire life."

Lex nodded. "That was what I thought." He agreed. "So to what do I owe the pleasure of your company today Miss Kent?"

"Well at the dance last night I made the mistake of going with Whitney Fordman." Lana replied. "He made some advances on me that I didn't like and I dislocated his shoulder, and now he wants too press charges for physical assault. I was just wondering if you could help me out."

"Sure no problem," Lex replied. "But uh, how did you dislocate a jock's shoulder?"

"I know a few martial arts moves," Lana lied. "Besides Lex I'm not the frail little girl everyone seems to think I am. I did grow up on a farm; I'm used to doing physical labour. I'm stronger than I look."

"I don't doubt it," Lex said.

"Thanks Lex," Lana said. "I owe you one."

Lex shook his bald, "No you don't," he replied. "If anything I owe you still. You saved my life Lana."

"Well I'll see you around," Lana as she turned.

"I'll see you around too," Lex called after her.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hi Honey how did it go?" Martha asked as her daughter got in the door.

However she immediately noticed the worried look on her daughter's face.

"Did something happen?" Martha asked. "What's wrong?"

"I think somebody knows," Lana replied.

"Who?" Martha asked.

"Some crazy man," Lana said. "He went and told Lex that I was an alien. Lex didn't believe the guy but I think he knows."

"Well he has no proof," Martha said. "You didn't even know you were an alien until 2 weeks ago. Besides myself and your father nobody else knows."

"Are you sure?" Lana asked nervously.

"I'm positive," her mother assured her.

Martha Kent hugged her daughter closely. But when Lana couldn't see a worried look flashed across Martha's face.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana was huddling with Pete and Chloe in the stands as they watched the final football game of the regular season. It was bitterly cold out but almost the entire school was there. Since Whitney went down with his injury the team, which was already undefeated, had not only kept the streak alive, but the offence had actually improved with Clark as quarterback since he was a much more mobile player. This game was one of the closest games they had been in and they were up twenty eight to seven at the two minute warning.

"If we win this game Smallville goes to State," Pete said excitedly through chattering teeth.

"That's great news," Chloe said as tried to breath on her hands to keep them warm.

Lana herself wasn't overly cold, for some she had high tolerance for extreme temperatures but she faked it anyway. "Hopefully state is played in a warmer place," Lana said.

"I think they're going to play it at Arrowhead Stadium," Pete replied. "Even if that is out of state."

"At least it's Kansas City," Chloe joked between shivers.

The Smallville Crows got an interception with less than a minute to go. Clark then kept taking a knee to run out the clock. As time expired the entire crowd charged onto the field to congratulate the team who was going on to play in state. In the middle of it all was Clark who was being carried about on the shoulders of two linemen as the crowd chanted his name. Lana was standing slightly back looking at it all. Standing on the far sidelines she noticed a face that made her rather nervous. It was the man that had accused her of being an alien to Lex. She had noticed him watching her where ever she went recently. She had yet to tell her parents about it though. However, she had mentioned it to Chloe who had done some following of her own. She had found out that the man worked in the record department at the hospital and his name was Roger Nixon. That was about all Chloe had found so far.

"Chloe," Lana whispered to her friend. "They guys here."

Chloe looked around and noticed the man off to the sidelines, "I really think you should go to the police Lana. I mean you've got enough evidence to consider him a stalker."

"I think I'll talk to my parents first," Lana said. "I'd rather they go to the police than myself. I mean the guy seems like he's nuts. I'd like to deflect as much attention away from me as possible."

"That's a good idea," Chloe said.

"Hey Lana," some called.

Lana turned around to see Clark coming towards still being carried by the two linemen.

"Great game Clark," Lana yelled back with a smile.

"Thanks!" Clark said. "Hey maybe we can…"

He never finished the thought because he was whisked away. Lana was too pre-occupied with other thoughts to really get all upset about it anyway. The crowd followed leaving Chloe and Lana standing there.

"Come on let's go somewhere warm," Chloe said between rattling teeth. "I'm freezing out here."

Lana nodded and the two followed the crowd into the school.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Roger Nixon stood on the sidelines shivering. So far in his weeks of following around Lana Kent he had not yet managed to gather even the slightest clue as to whether or not she was an alien. He was considering revising his theory, since maybe she was an alien but the Kent's had brainwashed her into thinking she was human. He decided that he had to check out the Kent farm. Roger Nixon slowly shuffled off the field to devise just how he would infiltrate the Kent farm.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read This:

Had to throw in the Lex-Lana relationship for any of you Lexana fans out there. Anyway the next chapter promises to bring a shocking conclusion to the Roger Nixon story (or it might be anti-climactic like the show). Just another reminder if you wanna talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Don't complain about the sappiness. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct.


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"How long as this guy been following you around?" Jonathon Kent asked his daughter anxiously.

Lana had gone home and broken the news about Roger Nixon following her.

"It's been almost a month now," Lana replied.

"Lana he could be one of those serial rapists that you hear about on TV," Martha said.

"No," Lana. "I know what he's after. He thinks I'm an alien, and I'm pretty sure he's got some proof in his own head that he's right. Because I think any normal person would have given up by now. Besides if it was a serial rapist or something, you wouldn't really need to worry. I could deal with the guy myself. I'm not exactly defenceless."

"We know," her father said. "But we just want to protect you."

"I know," Lana said. "I know. Even if I can more than take care of myself, I'm still daddy's little girl to you aren't I?"

"Yeah," Jonathon replied grabbing Lana in a hug.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following day Jonathon Kent was out in the field in the tractor cut out on him.

"Not again," he muttered.

He hopped off and trudged back to the house to get Lana. Lana was inside doing homework in the living room while watching TV.

"Lana could you help move the tractor into the barn?" Jonathon asked.

"Sure, did it break down again?" Lana asked.

Her father nodded, "Yep. It doesn't seem to like this cold weather."

"Alright," Lana said as she put on her shoes.

Jonathon and Lana made their way back to the tractor. Lana got ready to push it nice and easily into the garage when she suddenly spotted something.

"Dad, put the tractor in neutral and help me push." Lana said.

"What, why?" Jonathon asked.

"It's him." Lana said. "He's out there on the road. Watching, we don't want him to find out do we?"

Jonathon sighed. "No we don't." He agreed.

"Just make it look like you're doing all the work," Lana said.

They slowly pushed the tractor across the field and into the barn.

"What are we going to do about him?" Lana asked her father while they were still in the barn.

"I don't know," Jonathon replied risking a glance across the road at Roger Nixon. "I don't know what we can do. I'll speak to Sheriff Miller and see what he can do about it."

"Doesn't mean he won't be back though dad," Lana said. "This guy seems completely obsessed. I mean he got fired from his job for missing too many shifts just a week ago. I mean he's stopped following me at least but now he's show up outside our house it's weird."

"I know," Jonathon said. "I'm guess that he's waiting for a chance when nobody's here so he can snoop around."

"Maybe we should look at getting a burglar alarm," Lana suggested.

Her father shook his head. "It wouldn't do any good. He'd just need to get into the storm cellar."

"Well as long as we keep it locked we should be okay then," Lana said.

Her father nodded. "We should be."

However neither of them felt overly confident about that plan.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Smallville went to State and won. Christmas and New Years came and went and everything was going normally. A Valentine's Day with another "apology" from Whitney came about but once again it was insincere. Spring Break, Easter went by and with just two weeks left to go in the school year, Lana and her parents had basically forgotten about Roger Nixon. However Roger Nixon had not forgotten about Lana. The Kent's had managed to get a restraining order put on him stopping him from going near their property or near them, and being a law abiding citizen Roger Nixon obeyed that restraining order. But with the school year ending Roger Nixon's curiosity began to rise once again. He began devising plans to test if Lana really was an alien.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So who are you going to go to the Spring Formal Dance with?" Pete asked Lana on the bus.

"I really don't know," Lana replied. "Nobody's asked me yet. I mean I dream about Clark asking me but, he's pretty much ignored me all year."

"That's not true," Chloe cut in. "Clark has as big a crush on you as you do on him. He's just too afraid to admit it. Trust me."

"Ominous last words," Pete quipped.

"You know what," Lana said. "I don't even know if I'm going to go. I mean I don't really want go through all the hassle of picking out the perfect dress and doing the hair and everything."

"Believe me you've got it a lot cheaper than guys do," Pete said. "We've got tux rental, flowers, a lot of girls want a limo."

"You just want us to feel sorry for you," Chloe said.

Pete shrugged sheepishly, "Yeah well you can't blame a guy for trying."

"Who are you going to ask Pete?" Lana asked.

"I don't know yet." Pete replied. "My plan was to keep my ear to the ground so to speak and then find someone who would be desperate enough to go with me."

"Ah Pete, c'mon. You're better than that. I'm sure you can ask out any girl you want." Chloe said.

"You're right," Pete said. "Chloe will you go to the dance with me?"

"What?" Chloe asked in shock.

"I'm just kidding ya," Pete laughed. "But seriously thanks for the vote of confidence."

"No problem, that's what friends are for." Chloe said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That weekend Lana was in the field building a new fence for her father. It was easy work she just grabbed a fence post and slammed it into the ground, no digging or hammering or anything required thanks to her strength. As she ran out of post she hopped back into the truck to go get the planks required to complete the fence. As she started the truck the entire vehicle was enveloped in an explosion. Lana quickly kicked the door off and rolled out. He clothes were singed and burned, but otherwise she was perfectly fine. Jonathon and Martha Kent came running from the town house to see what had happened.

"Oh my god are you alright?" Martha asked as she got to Lana.

"Yeah I'm perfectly fine," Lana replied. "It didn't hurt me at all; just burned my clothes."

"What do you think caused it?" Martha asked her husband.

"I dunno," Jonathon replied. "Maybe there was a leak in the fuel line or something."

"Well I'm just glad that I was the one in there and not one of you two," Lana said.

Martha just hugged her daughter close.

"But don't wish we had taken Lex's truck now?" Lana asked cheekily.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

Well, I didn't feel the freak of the week stuff was necessary, so I just skipped to the season finale. (Besides that's too many episodes to re-watch). Anyway, this isn't the lead up to the stories finale though. Just **_another_** reminder if you wanna talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Don't complain about the sappiness. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions.


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

In the hallway outside the Torch office Chloe, Pete and Lana were greeted by none other than Clark.

"Hey Clark what's up man?" Pete asked in his usual overly cheerful tone.

"Not much," Clark replied. "Um, Chloe could I talk to you?"

"Sure, what about?" Chloe asked.

Clark looked at Lana and Pete. They both took the hint and reached for their bags.

"Will give you some privacy," Lana said.

However, privacy was appearing to leave and then immediately doubling back and hiding behind a door to eavesdrop on the conversation.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Chloe asked Clark.

"Chloe remember that article you wrote about me after we won State?" Clark replied.

Chloe nodded, "Yeah it was one of my most popular articles this year."

"Well when you interviewed me, you didn't ask any questions about my athletic prowess. You were more interested in everything else in my life." Clark said, "You were interested in me, not the star quarterback that everyone else cares about. If I wasn't as athletically gifted most people probably wouldn't even notice me."

"Well Clark," Chloe said. "I've always believed in looking at people for more than just their physical gifts. Although they never hurt."

Clark smiled. "That's true. Anyway I really appreciated what you wrote and to thank you I want to ask you if you would like to go to the Spring Formal with me."

Chloe was left completely stunned as were Pete and Lana who looked oddly at each other from their hiding spot behind the door.

"I don't know what to say Clark," Chloe stammered.

"Just say yes," Clark suggested firmly.

Chloe was more than willing to listen to that suggestion. "Then yes Clark. I do want to go to the Spring Formal with you." Chloe answered.

"Great," Clark said. "I'll talk to you more about this later then? Maybe I'll call you tonight?"

"Yeah, give me a call tonight then," Chloe agreed.

"Great. I'll call you then," Clark said.

"Great." Chloe said.

"Great," Clark repeated. "Well I guess should be getting to class. See you later."

"So, what did Clark want to talk about?" Pete asked as snapping Chloe out of a day dream.

"Were you guys listening?" Chloe asked trying to divert the question.

"No," Lana lied. "What kind of friends would we be if we eavesdropped on your conversations?"

"Well I might as well tell you since you'll probably hear the gossip spread across the school like a grassfire. I'm going to the Spring Formal, with Clark Lang." Chloe said happily.

"That's great," Lana said giving her friend a hug. "I'm so happy for you."

And while outwardly that was true, inside Lana Kent couldn't help but feel just a little bit jealous of her friend for getting the guy. She knew that Chloe also had a crush on Clark but she always felt that her connection was the stronger of the two. Maybe she had been wrong.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So has anyone asked you to the Spring Formal yet?" Chloe asked Lana as the sat in the cafeteria two day later.

Lana shook her head glumly, "No," she replied. "It's kinda surprising."

"Well you can't win 'em all," Chloe said.

Pete came by and sat down and dropped his brown paper bag containing his lunch on the table and then dropped roughly and angrily into his chair.

"What's wrong Pete?" Chloe asked.

"I got shot down five times today," Pete complained. "I don't think I'll be able to convince anyone to come to the Spring Formal with me."

"I know how you feel," Lana said. "I feel like I'm never going to be asked to go to the spring formal."

"Hey I got an idea," Chloe said cheerfully. "Why don't you two go together?"

"What?" Pete and Lana asked in both anger and unison.

"You heard me. Why don't you two go together?" Chloe repeated. "You'd make a cute couple."

"You know she's right," Pete said. "I mean it seems like everyone who's actually going is already taken. The only guy who hasn't asked anybody yet is Whitney. But I doubt you want to go with him."

"I guess you're right," Lana sighed. "Besides it won't be that bad. We'll still have a good time won't we?"

"Yeah," Pete agreed. "It will still be fun."

"Well, I gotta get to class," Chloe standing up to leave. "I'll leave you two to discuss your plans in privacy. Something I wish I could get."

"Have you been spying on her again?" Pete accused Lana.

"Hey," Lana said. "Don't you go throwing out accusations. I've seen you spying on them as well."

"What?" Pete asked. "Where were you?"

"Let's just say I had a better hiding spot than you did." Lana answered with a sly look on her face.

"So what time do you want me to pick you up?" Pete asked changing the topic as he took a bite out of his egg salad sandwich.

"I think six should be alright." Lana replied.

"Alright," Pete said. "I guess see this afternoon?"

"Yeah," Lana agreed as she gathered up her books. "I'll see you after school."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Lana got home from school, Martha was in the kitchen doing dishes as she waited for her daughter.

"So how was your day?" Martha asked her daughter.

"It was alright," Lana replied. "I decided I'm going to the spring formal."

"Who are you going with?" Martha asked.

"Well," Lana sighed. "I was starting to get a little desperate and so was Pete; so we decided to go with each other."

"Well that's great," Martha said. "You two will make such a cute couple."

"Yeah that's exactly what Chloe said," Lana muttered glumly as she sat down at the kitchen table.

Martha stopped doing the dishes to sit beside her daughter. "Are you still feeling jealous about Clark Lang asking Chloe to the dance?"

"I know it seems really selfish of me, but I don't know," Lana sighed as folded her arms and put her head down on the table.

"It's alright honey," Martha said rubbing her daughters back. "It's natural for you to feel this way. You can't let it get you down. Just try and have a good time at the Spring Formal."

"So can we go pick out a dress tonight?" Lana asked looking up.

Martha Kent chuckled, "Yes we will Lana."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

The conclusion to this shouldn't take more than two more chapters. Anyway how the Tempest story will play out will be interesting, I guarantee so stay tuned, put the story on alert if you enjoy it. The next update _might_ take 2 days since I want to get both chapters up at the same time. (Might only take one so I highly recommend story alert)

Just **_another_** reminder if you wanna talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Don't complain about the sappiness. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions.


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"So why are you looking so much happier today?" Chloe asked Lana at school the next day.

"I've decided not to let my own personal feelings get in the way of having a good time at the Spring Formal," Lana said. "That and my mother and I picked out the perfect dress last night."

"That's great," Chloe said.

"Hey guys," Pete said as he came from leaving class just a little ways down the hall. "What's up?"

"Not much," Chloe replied.

"Are you all set for the Spring Formal?" Lana asked Pete.

"I've got my tuxedo rental picked out last night, but I was wondering if I should go with the traditional black tie or try something unique." Pete said.

"Whatever you want," Lana said. "I won't mind."

"Well what colour dress were you planning on wearing?" Pete asked. "I'm just thinking maybe we could match."

"That would be so cute," Clark said as he also came from down the hallway.

Clark then took Chloe aside to have a private conversation.

"I'm going to wear a red dress," Lana said as she strained to overhear Clark and Chloe's conversation.

Pete nodded as he also tried to overhear the conversation.

"What is it Clark?" Chloe asked him.

"Whitney has enlisted in the Marines," Clark replied. "He leaves just before the Spring Formal. He asked me if I could drive him to the bus station. I hope it's no big deal. Because if it is I can probably get my aunt to take him."

"No Clark," Chloe cut him off. "I know that Whitney is a pretty close friend of yours and if you want to see him off then by all means do so. Just try not to be too late."

Clark grinned, "Great. I'm so glad that you understand. I'll try be here as soon as I can. You'll meet me here right?"

Chloe nodded. "Yeah, I'll see you later then."

Clark waved goodbye as he left down the hall.

"Trouble in Paradise?" Pete asked Chloe teasingly.

"No," Chloe replied. "I mean I'd prefer it if he'd get some else to take Whitney to his bus but I also know that they were good friends. And in spite of all that I need to acknowledge the importance of friendship. Besides he is just going to be a little late and at least he has a good excuse."

"Yeah Pete don't try and stir up trouble," Lana interjected. "That's my job."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana and Chloe were in the Torch office after school finishing off what they figured would be the final edition for the year.

"So are you at all nervous about tonight?" Chloe asked Lana.

"Not really," Lana replied. "I mean I've known Pete nearly all my life it's kinda hard to be nervous. I guess I might be a little nervous someone will spike the punch and Pete will make an ass of himself. Why are you nervous Chloe?"

"I guess I am," Chloe admitted. "I mean, I never thought I'd be going to the Spring Formal with Clark Lang. I always thought it was wishful thinking."

"Well you shouldn't be nervous," Lana said. "I'm sure that you will have a great time."

"Yeah you're right," Chloe agreed. "Well the issue is done. I should head home to get ready."

"Alright," Lana said. "I'll see you later tonight then."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I remember my first Spring Formal," Martha reminisced to her daughter as she was styling Lana's hair. "That was something special."

"Did you go with dad?" Lana asked.

"No," Martha replied. "I hadn't met your father yet."

"Whoa mom, pay attention or you'll mess up my hair," Lana said as her mother started undoing her work accidently.

"Sorry honey," Martha said catching herself. "I was just day dreaming there."

"Must have been a good time," Lana said with chuckle.

"Oh it was," Martha said losing herself in yet another day dream. "It was."

Lana stopped her mother from doing anything else to her hair. "I can see that you've got your mind on other things at the moment so I'll go finish my hair myself. Besides, Pete should be here in about fifteen minutes to pick me up."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fifteen minutes later, right on time Pete showed up to pick up Lana. He was dressed in his tuxedo with a red bow tie that just happened to match Lana's dress, even though he hadn't seen it yet.

"Wow Pete, you look very handsome," Martha commented as Pete came up the steps.

"Thank you Mrs. Kent," Pete smiled.

"Lana, are you ready?" Jonathon called up the stairs to his daughter.

"Yep, I'm coming," Lana replied from upstairs.

A few moments later Lana appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Wow," Pete managed to stammer. "You look great Lana."

Even Jonathon Kent was stunned by how ravishing his daughter looked. Her dress was a shoulder less style that went down to her ankles with a very long slit up either side. Her hair was curled into a curly ponytail at the back.

"Um, before I forget," Pete said reaching into his jacket pocket.

He pulled out a corsage which was in a plastic box. He opened the box and took the corsage out. Lana offered her wrist and Pete slipped the corsage on.

"And I've got one for you," Lana said as she pulled out a single red tulip and pinned it to breast lapel of Pete's jacket.

"Don't you guys just look so cute," Martha commented happily.

"You know I wish somebody would say something besides cute for once," Lana complained jokingly.

"Well I think you guys look great," Jonathon said appeasingly.

"Thanks Mister Kent," Pete smiled.

After Martha took a picture of what she called Smallville's "Cutest Couple" Pete led Lana out to his car. The wind had picked up a bit.

"Wow it sure is windy," Lana said as Pete opened the door for her.

"Yeah," Pete agreed.

He went around and hopped in the driver's seat. "Do you think there will be a storm?" Pete asked.

"Those dark clouds off on the horizon seem to suggest that there will be," Lana replied.

"Well at least we'll be inside," Pete said as he started the car up.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. Look forward to seeing some of you there.


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Across town at the bus station a truck pulled to a stop in the parking lot.

"Clark, I wanna thank you for everything this year." Whitney said. "I'm sorry I was a jerk to you at times. I just… I don't know. I felt threatened by you at first, but now you've become a really good friend Clark. Probably one of my only real friends that I have hear in Smallville."

Clark was dressed in his Tuxedo ready to go to the Spring Formal immediately after this.

"Thanks Whitney," Clark said. "You have no idea how much that means to me."

"Well," Whitney said grabbing his bag. "I won't keep you from enjoying Spring Formal. Try and have a fun time for me."

"I'll try," Clark said.

Whitney stepped out into the rain that was beginning to come down and quickly ran across the parking lot to the waiting Greyhound bus. Clark watched as Whitney went up the steps onto the bus. Once Whitney was out of sight Clark started up the truck to drive to the Spring Formal.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Wow that's quite the storm out there," Chloe commented to Lana and Pete.

"Yeah," Pete agreed. "I wonder if there will be a tornado."

"That's always a distinct possibility," Lana said.

"Has anyone told you two that you make one of the cutest couples?" Chloe asked.

Lana let out a loud sigh, "We've heard that from just about everybody else already," Lana replied.

"Well just making sure you know," Chloe teased.

"Man I really love this band," Pete commented changing the topic.

"Yeah, I've never heard of Remy Zero until now. But they're pretty good," Lana agreed.

The band finished up their current song and began playing a slower song. The couples all gathered out on the floor to dance.

"Miss Kent may I have this dance?" Pete asked polite.

"Why yes," Lana replied.

They stepped out on the floor and began to slow dance.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clark was driving to the Spring Formal. The going was tough however because the wind had picked up so much. The truck was weaving about on the road just from the wind. Debris was being flung about. Suddenly something smashed the windshield, it was a set of mailboxes. Clark lost control of the truck temporarily and it drove off the road and slammed roughly into a ditch leaving Clark temporarily dazed.

When Clark snapped out of his daze he got out of the truck the wind was howling. Clark looked across the road and saw something that completely frightened him. Three funnels had touched down and were making their way in his direction. Hopped back in the truck and tried desperately to start it back up.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Down in the Kent's storm cellar Roger Nixon was snooping around. His snooping didn't last very long though. He almost immediately found the spaceship and began videotaping it. As he examined it he noticed a strange spot on the ship. It was an octagonal indent. It brought Roger Nixon's thoughts to the very thing that had gotten him so obsessed with the idea of aliens in the first place. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a metallic disc. It was the exact size and shape to fit into this slot in the ship. Roger Nixon hesitated wondering if there was any kind of danger in putting the disc into the slot.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the dance the band was suddenly cut off as the Principal came up on the stage.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," he apologized. "However we have just received word that three funnel clouds have been spotted south of Smallville."

"Clark was south of Smallville," Lana said.

"I'm sure he's fine," Chloe said. "I'll call his cell phone. He should be here any…"

But when Chloe turned around Lana was gone. Pete came over carrying two glasses of punch.

"Hey where'd Lana go?" Pete asked.

"I don't know," Chloe replied.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Come on Martha we've got to get into the storm cellar!" Jonathon Kent hollered over the howling winds.

Martha was carrying a bunch of pictures which couldn't be replaced if the house was destroyed. Jonathon suddenly noticed that the doors to the storm cellar were open already. He ran ahead to see who was down there.

"Nixon!" Jonathon shouted seeing the man who had been stalking Lana.

Roger Nixon placed the octagon in the slot.

"I've got the proof Kent," Nixon said. "And I know several people who will be willing to pay for this information. You've made me a rich man."

"You're not going anywhere." Jonathon said. "Now give me that tape."

"No!" Nixon yelled.

He and Jonathon began trading blows. Martha came down the stairs and noticed the spaceship which was glowing and had lifted up off the floor of the storm cellar.

"Jonathon," Martha called out in a worried tone.

Jonathon took his eyes off of Nixon to look at the spaceship. Nixon used this opportunity to run away up and out of the storm cellar. Jonathon began to run up the steps after him.

"Jonathon no!" Martha yelled at her husband over the wind.

"Martha I am not going to let that man tear our family apart," Jonathon said as he ran up the steps after Nixon.

Martha watched helplessly as her husband ran out of the storm cellar. She then turned her attention to the spaceship which had aimed itself at the stairs. Martha stepped out of the way more out of fear than reason. The ship suddenly shot out of the storm cellar into the sky much to Martha Kent's confusion.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana was running at super speed to the south of Smallville. She saw the three funnels merge into one large tornado. Not long after Lana came across a truck that had gone off the road that was directly in the path of the tornado. A she looked closer she noticed that Clark was in the truck desperately trying to get it to start. Clark looked up and noticed Lana standing there.

"LANA!" He yelled, "Get out of here!"

The truck began get sucked into the tornado.

"Clark!" Lana yelled as she ran into the tornado after him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

And there you have it, the end of Season 1. Now on to Season 2, which will be a lot more exciting and may involves some of that Clana that I know people are looking forward too.

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. Look forward to seeing some of you there.


	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

As Lana ran into the tornado she saw the truck. Clark was slumped unconscious over the steering wheel. He must have banged his head against the window or something. Lana wasn't really too concerned about that. She had to get him out of this tornado before he got more injured. She didn't stop moving her feet for fear of being swept up by the tornado. The truck was being lifted into the air now. As she ran under it she managed to grab a hold of the front axel. She actually had to strain to force the truck to move out of the tornado. However once it started to move it went flying and dragged Lana with it.

Instinctually Lana let go and hit ground and rolled. Her dress got torn a bit a she slid roughly across pavement. As Lana looked up she saw the truck rolling over several times before coming to a stop on its side. Lana quickly ran to the truck and pulled Clark out. He was breathing but he was unconscious. Lana picked him up in a fireman's carry and began running to the Smallville Medical Centre.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The spaceship flew across the cornfields of Smallville towards the tornado. It was seeking out its former occupant. It flew into the tornado undaunted by the danger it posed. However the tornado had other ideas. The octagonal key was ripped out of the slot and pulled away by the winds of the tornado. The ship lost power and became just another bit of debris caught up in the tornado.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Somebody you've got to help him," Lana said as she dropped Clark onto a gurney. "I need a doctor here!"

A doctor quickly came over and began examining Clark by checking his eyes with a flashlight. Clark began to come too.

"Breathing's normal, he's got a pulse. He's going to be alright," the doctor said.

"Can you tell me his name?" the doctor turning around, but Lana was gone.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana arrived back at the farm in the storm cellar.

"Mom? Dad?" Lana shouted frightened since she couldn't see her parents.

She turned around and noticed her mother lying on the ground near the stair. She must passed her as she rushed down into the storm cellar.

"Mom?" Lana asked as she knelt down beside her mother.

Martha Kent awoke with. "Lana? Oh thank god you're alright. We have to find your father. He was outside when the tornado hit."

"I'm gonna get you to a hospital," Lana said.

"No, no, Lana listen to me. That stalker was in the cellar." Martha said.

"Roger Nixon?" Lana asked.

"He videotaped the ship," Martha explained. "He's going to expose your secret. Your father chased him out into the storm."

"I've gotta find him," Lana said.

She turned to run out of the storm cellar but then she noticed something.

"Mom," Lana asked worried. "Where's the ship?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana was out in the field searching amongst the debris for some sign of her father.

"Lana," her mother yelled running from the house. "He's not in the house."

"He must have taken shelter somewhere," Lana said. "Dad grew up in tornado country. You never get caught in the open first thing you do is take shelter."

"I know but your father wasn't thinking rationally," Martha said. "He was intent on stopping Nixon from breaking up our family."

"Do you think he…" Lana began to ask.

"No he would never do that," Martha said, although she wasn't entirely sure.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Down in the crypt of an old church Roger Nixon and Jonathon Kent were trapped. Nixon had run down their and Jonathon had just barely managed to follow him before a trailer house came crashing down blocking the exit.

Jonathon Kent picked himself up from off the ground. He was covered in dust and dirt. Nixon was pinned underneath a stone column nearby. Jonathon grabbed a metal bar and advanced towards Nixon.

"Oh no!" Nixon cried in horror. "Please I won't say anything about your son! Just don't kill me!"

But Jonathon Kent never had any intention of killing Nixon. He used the metal bar as a lever to free Nixon from under the column.

"Oh god, I thought you were gonna kill me," Nixon said.

"Yeah well you would think that," Jonathon said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chloe arrived at the hospital looking for Clark.

"Hey, you back from Oz?" Chloe asked as she reached the room Clark was in.

Clark looked as if he was getting ready to leave.

"What are you doing? Shouldn't you be in bed for like a month?" Chloe asked.

"I'm okay," Clark replied. "The doctor said it was just a mild concussion."

"Well I'm just glad you're okay," Chloe said. "What happened?"

"Well I was driving to the Spring Formal after dropping Whitney off and the truck got hit by a mailbox. I lost control and ran into a ditch. That's when I saw the twisters. Before I knew it the truck was being sucked in." Clark explained.

"And you walked away with a small bump on your head," Chloe commented. "That's amazing even by Smallville standards."

"No it's impossible," Clark said.

"What?" Chloe asked.

"Nothing," Clark replied. "I mean the next thing I knew I was waking up in here."

"So clicked your heels, said 'there's no place like home' and you woke up in Smallville Medical Centre?" Chloe asked.

"Apparently Lana brought me here." Clark replied.

"Lana?" Chloe inquired curiously.

"Yeah," Clark answered. "Have you seen her?"

"No not since she vanished from the dance," Chloe replied. "Pete and I spent like 3 hours looking for her."

"Look Chloe I'm sorry I wasn't able to get to the Spring Formal," Clark apologized.

"Hey don't sweat it," Chloe said. "You've got a pretty good excuse."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana was frantically searching through the barn when she heard the noise of somebody entering.

"Dad?" Lana called hopefully.

Instead she was greeted by the sight of Lex Luthor standing in the entrance of the barn.

"Lana, I ran into your mother at the hospital." Lex said. "She told me about your dad."

"I've searched every inch of this place," Lana said frantically. "I've got go search the woods."

"Lana," Lex said. "My father was injured in the twister. He's in pretty bad shape."

"Lex I'm sorry is there anything I can do?" Lana offered, knowing that full well there wasn't anything she could do.

"Nah, it's in the doctor's hand now." Lex said. "During the storm my father was trapped beneath a column. If I hadn't pulled him out he would have died. Before I did… I hesitated."

Lana wasn't really sure what to say about that.

"I was thinking that maybe my life would be better off if I just left him to die," Lex continued.

"You saved him, that's the important part." Lana tried to console Lex.

"No my father won't see it that way," Lex retorted. "Forgiveness is not in his emotional lexicon. If anything he'll probably see my saving him as a sign of weakness."

"What are you going to do?" Lana asked.

"I'm going to help my friend find her dad," Lex replied. "Do you have another flashlight?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

The Tornado clean up will take at least 3 chapters but they should be exciting. So stick with it.

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. Look forward to seeing some of you there.


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Lex and Lana were searching in the woods for Jonathon. There was a lot of debris strewn about including sinks, beds, toys and farm equipment. Lex stopped to scan the area with his flashlight. Suddenly he felt something drip down onto his head. Lex wiped it off and looked at it. It was type of black liquid. He looked up to see a car impaled on a tree above his head. He figured that it must have been oil that was dripping down on him.

"Do you know who's car that is?" Lana asked noticing Lex shining his flashlight up at the car.

"No," Lex replied. "But I think we can cover more ground if we split up."

"Yeah," Lana agreed. "I'll meet you back here in half hour."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jonathon Kent was thankful that he had a lighter in his pocket. There had been many candles in the crypt and they provided sufficient illumination. However Jonathon had not yet been able to discover a way out. Jonathon noticed Nixon searching around blindly in the dim light.

"What are you doing?" Jonathon asked.

"I'm looking for my cell phone," Nixon replied. "It's our only hope."

Jonathon didn't bother helping but went about lighting more candles.

"You've got the only known alien in human history," Nixon said. "And you've kept her secret."

"Lana may be an alien," Jonathon said. "But she is my daughter. And I'm not going to let you sabotage her life while you make yourself famous."

"Is that why you chased me?" Nixon asked angrily. "What were you planning on doing Kent? Were you gonna bludgeon me and bury me in a shallow grave?"

"You were trespassing on my property," Jonathon retorted with equal anger. "And you tried to kill my daughter in that truck."

"You have the most amazing being on earth doing chores on your farm." Nixon said. "Why are you hiding her? Tell the world. Let them see for themselves."

"I think I'll let her decide that when she's older," Jonathon replied.

"And when do you suppose that will be?" Nixon inquired. "Draft age? Drinking age?"

"When she's ready," Jonathon replied lighting another candle.

"Why don't you stop playing the protector and admit the truth?" Nixon asked. "You and your wife kept her because you couldn't have children of your own."

"We protect her because she is our daughter and we love her," Jonathon answered as he gradually became more infuriated with Nixon.

Nixon began to laugh. "She's not your daughter, you deluded hick." Nixon said. "She's not even human."

Jonathon Kent took a few second and then turned around and punched Nixon square across the jaw sending him to the ground.

"You can kill me if you want for saying this," Nixon said backing away from Jonathon. "But you know I'm right. You're just a small man whose daughter's destiny is just too big for you to comprehend."

Jonathon grabbed Nixon and dragged him to his feet and looked him straight in the eye.

"Lana doesn't belong to you," Nixon said to Jonathon's face. "She belongs to the world."

Just then a Nixon's cell phone began to ring. Nixon quickly pushed himself away from Jonathon and scrambled towards the noise. It was on the ground near where he had been trapped under the column. He found it and quickly answered it.

"Hello?" Nixon shouted into the cell phone. "Lex?"

At the very mention of the name Lex, Jonathon grabbed the cell phone and threw it against a wall smashing it to pieces.

"You stupid son of a bitch!" Nixon yelled. "I thought you wanted to get the hell out of here!"

"I did want to get out here," Jonathon Kent retorted in a rage. "Until I realized that you were in bed with Lex Luthor and I would rather rot down here and die than see you ruin my daughter's life!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lex was still on his cell phone. "Nixon? Are you still there?" he asked.

Suddenly he saw Lana approaching.

"Lana," Lex said. "I was just calling the fire department to see if we could get a rescue team out here."

"No you weren't," Lana said grabbing the phone away from Lex. "I heard you were trying to talk to Roger Nixon. My mom said he was snooping around the farm today. He was with my dad when the tornado hit."

"Lana I didn't know Nixon was involved in this," Lex tried to assure her.

"Why should I believe you?" Lana asked. "You already lied about knowing him once."

Lex hesitated as he tried think of a reply.

"That's the second time you've hesitated today Lex," Lana accused. "I'm starting to wonder if what my dad said about you was true."

"Lana wait," Lex called as she began to storm away. "You're tired and upset."

"Don't try and turn this around on me," Lana yelled angrily. "Are you really here to find my dad or to find Nixon?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Lex asked rhetorically.

"I don't have time for this," Lana said grabbing the flashlight away from Lex. "I've gotta find my dad."

"Lana!" Lex called after her, but it was no use.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Talon had been organized into a tornado relief centre. Inside Martha Kent was pinning up a picture of her husband on the missing person's board as Lana watched her.

"I'm going to talk to the Red Cross people and see if they have any new information about your father," Martha said.

"Lana," Clark said. "Any luck?"

Lana shook her head. "We looked all night. The search and rescue team combed the farm this morning but they didn't find anything either. I don't know what to do he's been missing for over twelve hours." Lana said on the verge of tears.

"They'll find him Lana, I know it." Clark assured her.

"Thanks," Lana said. "I thought you'd be home, recuperating."

"I wanted to help," Clark said. "A lot of people helped me out after the meteor shower, it meant a lot."

"I'm just glad you're okay," Lana said.

"Um, so how did you find me?" Clark asked.

"Just lucky I guess," Lana said. "The truck was on the road and you were inside it must have been thrown free from the tornado pretty quickly."

"Is that really what happened?" Clark asked.

"Yeah," Lana lied. "Why?"

"I just keep seeing something that doesn't make sense," Clark said. "The truck getting swept up in the Tornado and you just… never mind it must be a dream."

"Lana," Martha interrupted. "No new word."

"I'd better get back to work," Clark said. "You'll find him."

"I'm gonna stay and work the phone banks," Martha said. "If anybody has seen or found him they'll call in. They just discovered an old couple trapped in their garage this morning so there's still hope."

"Dad's missing because of me," Lana said anxiously. "And I brought this upon us."

"You can't blame yourself," Martha said. "You can't change who you are. As long as you live people will try to exploit you. Your father and I have tried to shelter you as long as possible but, one day we won't be there for you. And you're gonna have to carry the burden of your gifts on your own."

"Don't say that mom," Lana said sadly.

"When your day comes," Martha said. "I have no doubt in my heart that you'll make us proud. Now go back out there."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

Chapter 2 of Vortex done the rest will only take one or two more chapters and then we get onto some of the good stuff like Heat Vision, someone discovering the spaceship, and red Kryptonite plus my own special storyline which I guarantee everyone will like. (I'm not going the surprise)

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. Look forward to seeing some of you there.


	19. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Down beneath the trailer home, Roger Nixon and Jonathon Kent were still trapped.

"These old foundations, they mixed lead in with the cement for stability," Jonathon commented as he prodded away at the wall with a pole.

"What are you afraid we're gonna die of lead poisoning?" Roger Nixon asked sarcastically.

"Lana can't see through lead," Jonathon replied.

Nixon turned around surprised. "She can see through solid objects? Unbelievable, what else can she do?" he asked. "Do you have any idea what I would do with her abilities? The wealth, the power she could amass it's unimaginable."

"You are exactly the reason why I keep her abilities a secret," Jonathon replied.

"If it wasn't me it would have been someone else." Nixon said. "It was just a matter of time before the story got out."

"Yeah," Jonathon agreed with his own sarcasm.

"The people have a right to know!" Roger Nixon declared.

"With out any regard to the consequences to my daughter," Jonathon interrupted.

"Mister Kent, since the beginning of time people, have been looking up at the stars and wonder, what's out there? Lana is the answer that they have been waiting for." Nixon said.

"I think I know a way out of here," Jonathon said abruptly changing the topic.

"You gonna tell me what that is?" Nixon asked.

"You give me the tape of the ship and I will," Jonathon replied.

"That's not gonna happen." Nixon said stubbornly.

"It's your life, or your story," Jonathon said offering Nixon a choice. "You've gotta decide which is more important to you. I have."

It didn't take long for Nixon to crack. He reached into his jacket and pulled the tape out and handed it to Jonathon. Jonathon began pulling the eight millimetre magnetic strip out and ruining the tape, breaking it a few times for good measure. Nixon watched rather upset that the proof that he had searched for all his life was being destroyed.

"Are you gonna share your plan with me?" Nixon asked fearing that Kent might have been double crossing him.

Jonathon led Nixon to a spot in the wall. "Feel that," Jonathon said.

"The mortar is weaker here," Nixon said.

"Yep," Jonathon agreed. "If we can get through here I'm sure that we can tunnel up to the surface."

The two of them began working on prying the cement blocks free of the wall.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back at the farm Lana saw Lex waiting for her outside the barn.

"Lana," Lex called when he saw her.

"What do you want?" Lana asked.

"I should have come out and told you the truth right away," Lex admitted as Lana continued walking past him to the house. "I do know Roger Nixon I was just trying to protect you."

"Protect me from what?" Lana asked turning around to face Lex.

"Before the tornado Nixon approached me," Lex said. "He offered to sell me information about your family."

"What kind of information?" Lana inquired curiously.

"It doesn't matter now Clark," Lex replied. "The man's a nutcase. He'll do anything to prove that there are aliens on earth. I warned him to stay away from your family. When I saw his car I realized he might have had something to do with your father's disappearance."

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Lana demanded angrily.

"I didn't want to alarm you unless I knew for sure," Lex replied.

"You know Lex, I don't know what to believe anymore." Lana said.

"Believe that I'm your friend," Lex replied. "I got something to show you."

Lex went to his car and pulled out a large roll of paper.

"What's that?" Lana asked.

"It's a map. A cellular frequency grid to be exact. I had my people look into it." Lex replied. "Only one cell tower survived the storm meaning Nixon and possibly your father had to be within a one mile radius of where we were last night. I don't know if it will help but it's worth a shot."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana had managed to recruit Pete and Chloe into helping her search for her father. They were using the map that Lex had provided. Lex had to deal with issues back at the hospital concerning his own father.

"Well this is the edge of the grid," Chloe said.

"Yeah there's no structures left marked on the map," Pete agreed. "Sorry Lana."

"Wait," Chloe said. "What's that?"

Lana and Pete looked in the same direction. They saw a trailer home that while heavily damaged was still mostly intact.

"The twister must have dropped it here," Pete said.

Lana began scanning the area with her X-ray vision while Chloe and Pete looked elsewhere. However her scan didn't turn up anything.

"They're not in here," Lana said.

"Lana what are you a blood hound?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah how do you know?" Pete added.

Pete began searching the area anyway as did Lana. Meanwhile Chloe noticed a camera laying on the ground it was broken as if it had been dropped.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Down below Roger Nixon and Jonathon Kent were in the process of tunnelling out when they heard the calls of Lana and Pete from up above.

"Did you hear that?" Nixon asked.

"It sounded like the kids," Jonathon said.

They both began yelling for help.

"They can't hear us," Roger cried. "They can't hear us!"

"Roger take it easy," Jonathon warned.

It was too late. The tunnel began to collapse down on Nixon. Jonathon barely managed to pull Nixon out in time.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Up above Chloe thought she heard something.

"Did any of you hear that?" Chloe asked.

Lana used her X-ray vision to check again but she still couldn't see anything.

"Come on," Lana suggested. "Let's start again."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Down below both Jonathon Kent and Roger Nixon lay on the ground, not from unconsciousness due to the cave in, but just from sheer exhaustion from their ordeal. Little did they know that the cave in had cause several meteor rock to become unburied and they now lay exposed on the ground around them.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

The rest of vortex should only take 1 more chapter. After that get ready for the story to get interesting as Lana is likely to try and start a relationship with Clark. But how will Chloe react?

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. Look forward to seeing some of you there.


	20. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Lana, Pete and Chloe were still searching for Lana's father, however the searched seemed to be hopeless. Lana found a moment to speak to Chloe out of earshot of Pete.

"Chloe, I've been meaning to talk to you about what happened last night," Lana said.

"Oh didn't I tell you that leaving in the middle of a tornado to save a friend totally gets you off the hook?" Chloe asked. "Besides I know you'd do the same thing for me."

"Of course you're my best friend," Lana agreed. "But I just wanted to make sure you weren't feeling jealous or anything. I did rescue your date to Spring Formal."

"That's fine," Chloe said. "I mean I didn't think it would work out with Clark and I anyway, we're just too different."

"Uh, okay," Lana stuttered.

Deep down Lana knew that Chloe had as big a crush on Clark as she did. He was probably the one thing that could ruin their friendship. Lana didn't know why but somehow she felt guilty about Chloe basically admitting defeat.

"Look," Chloe said. "Our friendship is really important. The last thing I want to do is screw it up."

"I know," Lana agreed.

"Good, great, perfect," Chloe said. "I'm really glad we got that straightened out."

"I'm gonna go check over here," Lana said point off in a random direction as she felt Chloe needed a moment alone.

"I'll catch up in a sec," Chloe said. "My feet are throbbing I need to sit down for a minute."

Chloe sat down miserably with her back up against a tree. Pete came doubling back looking for them. Chloe turned to hide her face from Pete. She didn't want him to see that she was crying. She quickly wiped away tears and put on a smile but Pete could see through her.

"What's up with the fake smile?" Pete asked.

"Nothing," Chloe replied. "Lana and I just agreed that we want to remain best friends."

"She pulled the friendship thing on you huh?" Pete commented.

"Actually I pulled it on myself." Chloe replied. "I guess it was just a defense mechanism. I didn't want to get in a conflict with her over Clark."

"Listen Chloe," Pete said. "It's okay to feel bummed out. Last night was supposed to be special and it got ruined."

"It was just so close to being perfect," Chloe said trying to hold back the tears to no avail. "Listen to me I sound so pathetic. A tornado hit and people are in real trouble and I'm upset because Clark didn't fulfill my wishful romantic fantasy and now I've more or less given him up to Lana to maintain our friendship."

"You know," Pete said. "Lana and I were spying on you and Clark a lot. I did it because I was curious, and I think Lana was just a bit jealous. She's always been a lot more shy and introverted and you're so out there and friendly. I bet Clark's still up for grabs and of course so am I."

Chloe laughed. "Thanks Pete," she said wiping away the last of her tears.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Down below Jonathon Kent and Roger Nixon woke up. They were half covered in rocks and dirt from the cave in.

"Ugh, I can barely breath," Jonathon groaned. "That cave in must have cut off the air supply."

"We're trapped in a tomb," Nixon commented. "That's ironic. At least you've got a legacy to leave behind."

Jonathon regaled Nixon with the tale of when Lana first used her powers as they remained trapped in the dark old crypt where they were likely going to die.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Pete, where'd you get these maps?" Lana asked.

Pete had brought a large set of books filled with maps over to the Kent household in the hopes that they would help in the search for Jonathon Kent.

"My mom borrowed them from the county zoning office," Pete replied. "They list every zoning change going back to 1920."

"Look the plans from 1988 show an old church near Hobson's pond," Lana commented.

"I've never seen a church near there," Pete said.

"That's because it was destroyed in the meteor shower," Martha said.

"Well according to this there's a crypt in the basement," Lana said.

"Your dad could have known about it," Martha suggested hopefully.

"I was right there," Lana said as she jumped up. "The trailer home must have been concealing the entrance."

"Lana you can't dig them out on your own," Pete said getting up.

"Um Lana," Martha said thinking up a quick excuse. "Pete and I will go to town and get a rescue team and meet you out there."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana arrived at the trailer home at super speed. She quickly grabbed it and flipped up onto its side with relative ease. The trailer park collapsed on itself from the damage it had suffered. She then ran down the opening that quickly became visible.

"Dad!" Lana called out.

"Lana," Her father replied weakly.

Lana saw her father covered in rubble lying on the floor. She quickly bent down to help him but that brought her close the meteor rocks. She immediately began to feel sick. She fell over onto her back.

"Kent, what's happening to her?" Nixon asked picking himself up, the light and fresh air seemed to have reinvigorated him.

"Roger you gotta get her away from these meteor rockets they make her sick," Jonathon explained faintly.

Nixon grabbed a meteor rock and went over to Lana who was lying helplessly on the ground. Nixon stuffed the meteor rock in the pocket of Lana's jacket and then began dragging her out of the crypt.

"I don't need the tape," Nixon said triumphantly as he struggled to drag Lana up the stairs. "I have all the evidence than I need right here."

"What are you doing?" Jonathon shouted. "Nixon!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nixon had dragged Lana a great deal away from the crypt. He dropped her on the ground and pressed the unlock button on the remote attached to his keychain. He heard the beeping coming from above. Nixon looked up to see his car impaled on a tree.

"Ah son of a," Nixon started to curse.

However he never got to finish. Jonathon Kent came sprinting from seemingly out of nowhere to tackle him hard to the ground.

"You're not, taking, my, daughter." Jonathon said through gritted teeth as he pummelled Nixon with punches.

However Nixon was able to use a knee to the gut to escape from Jonathon's weak pin. He tried to run away but Jonathon grabbed his leg. Nixon gave him a horse kick knocking Jonathon to the ground. He then saw a metal bar that was sticking out of the ground. Nixon wrapped his hands around it and pulled it out. He stood over Jonathon Kent holding the bar up high.

"You may not have been willing to kill for your convictions," Nixon said. "But I am."

Suddenly a gun shot rang out. Nixon stopped and looked down at his chest. There was an exit wound coming almost directly from where his heart was. He dropped the bar and toppled to the ground, dead. Behind where Nixon had been standing was Lex Luthor with a silver pistol in his hand. Jonathon ignored him and scrambled over to Lana.

"Mister Kent are you okay?" Lex asked.

Jonathon nodded and Lex went to look at the dead body of Roger Nixon. Jonathon pulled of Lana's jacket and threw it away. Lana immediately began to feel better.

"Lana, are you okay?" Jonathon asked as he gasped for air.

"I'm fine," Lana replied as her father hugged her close.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The police and medics arrived to deal with the situation. The body of Nixon was taken away and it seemed that Lex would be considered innocent for killing Nixon since it was in the defense of Jonathon Kent.

"Dad I'm glad you didn't kill Nixon," Lana said.

"Not doing it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do," Jonathon said. "But I realized if I killed him it would go against everything your mother and I have ever taught you. Another thing though. Nixon told me that Lex offered to pay him for information about you."

"Lex told me that he told Nixon to stay away." Lana replied.

"One of them is lying." Jonathon said.

"I think the question you need to ask yourself right now dad," Lana said. "Is which one tried to kill you; and which one saved you life?"

Lex approached them.

"Lex," Jonathon said. "You saved my life; and I want to say thank you."

"To a fresh start," Lex said offering his hand to Jonathon.

Jonathon accepted the handshake, "Yeah."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Off in a field just barely out of sight of the road, a small foreign metallic object lay dormant, waiting to be discovered.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

That's the end of Vortex, next will be either Heat or Duplicity. I might take some time to rewatch the episodes to decide so don't go crazy demanding updates.

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. Look forward to seeing some of you there.


	21. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

Lana and Clark were having a quick discussion in the school hallway. After Clark went off to class Lana was suddenly approached by Chloe.

"Good to see that some things never change," Chloe said.

"You're back," Lana said hugging her best friend.

"Yeah fresh from the wilds of Metropolis and the Daily Planet internship program," Chloe said.

"Well Pete said you were a big hit." Lana admitted, "I thought we had lost you for good."

"Well my dad thought he'd give Lex Corp. another shot so here I am, back in the boonies."

"I'm glad you're staying," Lana said. "I really missed you over the summer."

"Yeah I can tell by the numerous e-mails you sent me," Chloe said with a slight hint of sarcasm.

"Look I'm sorry," Lana replied. "I was just so busy over the course of the summer with the farm and everything and you know I'm not good about checking my e-mail."

"Don't worry about it Lana it's not a big deal," Chloe said. "I was kind of busy myself anyway. I met this really hot intern from Metropolis high."

Lana was suddenly very interested. "Really, what was he like?" Lana asked.

"He was great," Chloe replied as made a motion to head to class. "Made me forget about Smallville for three whole months."

Lana had this odd feeling that Chloe was making this story up but she wasn't really sure why, if it was jealousy or what. She hadn't developed any kind of relationship with Clark over the summer if that's what Chloe was worried about. She quickly put those thought into the back of her mind and focused on being on time for class.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana and Pete entered biology together. They had been biology partners since their days as kids when they experimented by pulling the wings off of flies and the other kids did to animals.

"Great," Pete said noticing a film projector. "Every year the incredibly aged Ms. Kowalski begins the year by showing a sex ed film."

"Who told you that?" Lana asked. "Your brothers?"

"No." Pete replied, "My dad."

Lana was a little surprised as she took her seat. It was incredibly hot in the room just as it was everywhere else in the school. Smallville was suffering a heat wave the likes of which had not been seen in almost twenty five years.

"Good morning," someone said as they entered from the backroom.

Pete and Lana both looked up to see a woman who couldn't have been that much older than them enter the room. She was dressed in a very revealing white dress.

"I'm Miss Atkins," their teacher introduced herself. "I'll be your new biology teacher on Health and Human Development."

"I'm really sorry about the air conditioning in here," the teacher apologized. "But it looks like we're gonna have to suffer through this together."

"Bring on the pain," Pete commented from beside Lana.

Lana was struggling to contain her laughter. It seemed like all the guys in the room couldn't take their eyes off the new teacher.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The film they were watching was incredibly boring. It was stuff that Lana had already seen on the discovery channel but given in a much more boring manner. Through out the movie she kept looking over at Clark who was sitting beside Chloe. Clark was holding something in his hand that he was staring at intently. Lana looked saw light flash off it as Clark adjusted it slightly and realized he was staring at the reflection. She tried to follow the reflection and discovered that Clark was ogling the new teacher. Miss Atkins caught Lana looking back at her and pointed back to the film. Lana glanced back at the film but she wasn't at all interested. The topic of the film was making some raunchy thoughts run through her head. They mostly involved Clark. Suddenly she felt something weird with her eyes. The spot on the screen she was looking at suddenly burst into flames. Miss Atkins began evacuating the class from the room. Lana was too stunned. She wasn't entirely sure but she thought that she had started the fire.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the school waited outside for the fire department to give the all clear to head back, in a fancy silver sports car pulled up honking its horn.

"Lex," Lana said stepping forward to meet her rich friend.

"I came as soon as I heard," Lex said.

However he rushed past Lana completely ignoring her. Lana turned to see him kissing the new Biology teacher. She couldn't help but feel a little confused. Obviously Pete was also confused.

"Are you alright?" Lex asked her.

"I'm fine," Miss Atkins replied. "Thanks to this young woman right here. Lana come here for a second. She was the only one who kept her head through the entire thing; she actually put the fire out."

"Why am I not surprised?" Lex asked rhetorically. "Lana once again I'm grateful."

"And I'm confused," Lana admitted.

"You right, I'm sorry," Lex apologized. "I'd like you to meet Desiree Atkins, my fiancée."

Just then the fire marshal gave the all clear for everyone to head back into the building.

"Fiancée huh?" Lana asked. "I didn't even know you were seeing anyone, are you sure about this?"

"I've never been more sure of anything in my life," Lex replied. "Oh that reminds me."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope, "I was going to have this messengered but since you're here."

Lana opened the envelope. "This is a wedding invitation," Lana said. "For tonight."

"I know it's short notice," Lex said. "But I was hoping you'd be there."

"Um, yeah." Lana agreed. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Great," Lex said. "I'll see later then."

As Lex got back into his car she couldn't help but think that something was odd about the relationship between Desiree and Lex. Two words flashed through her mind, gold digger.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Lana got home from school both her parents were in the kitchen. They both noticed the odd look on her face.

"How was school today?" Martha asked.

"It was, different," Lana replied.

"Do we like different?" Jonathon asked.

"There was a fire during biology class," Lana said. "It's okay nobody was hurt I stopped it before it spread."

"Well it sounds like we should be proud of you," Martha said.

"Except I think I started it," Lana finished.

"Wait you want to explain that please?" Jonathon asked.

"I started to feel hot, and then my eyes started to burn," Lana explained nervously. "All of a sudden the spot I was staring at burst into flames."

"Just by looking at it?" Martha inquired disbelievingly.

"Hello? Look I'm Lana, I'm the girl that can lift up tractors and see through walls." Lana answered as if that at all explained it.

"Lana, hold on a second," her father cut in. "Just what was going on when all this happened?"

"We had just met our new biology teacher and we were watching a film," Lana replied. "A sex educational film."

Lana suddenly realised what her parents were thinking at felt really embarrassed. She went and poured herself a glass of lemonade from the fridge.

"Lana, it's possible that whatever has happened has some sort of hormonal connection," Martha suggested.

"Great," Lana said. "So I'm maturing into a fire starter?"

"Look we've just gotta get a handle on this thing like we've gotten a handle on all of your other abilities," Jonathon said.

"Except all my other abilities didn't involve things bursting into flames," Lana said rather upset.

"All the more reason for you to give it some time," Martha said. "You'll just have to stay close to home and then we'll, uh, figure it out."

"I can't," Lana said pulling the envelope from her pocket and handing it to her mother.

"Why what's this?" Martha asked.

"You're not gonna believe it," Lana said as her mother opened the envelope.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

Simple put, Heat seemed necessary to move on to Duplicity. This also helps set up the relationships a little better as well and it's chronologically correct.

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. Look forward to seeing some of you there.


	22. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

Lex Luthor's last minute wedding was a surprisingly large affair with champagne, a three tier cake, the whole nine yards. Lana watched with everyone else as the couple cut the cake not entirely believing everything that was going on herself. She noticed Chloe watching off by herself. Lana made her way through the crowd to talk to her friend. Chloe had seemed rather distant since she had come back.

"Chloe, how are you?" Lana asked.

"I'm fine," Chloe replied. "Only Lex Luthor could put together a fair tale wedding in only a couple of hours."

"Look you seemed a little distant this morning," Lana said. "I just want to make sure that everything is okay between us."

"Yeah, it's hunky-dory," Chloe stated.

"Now I know that something is wrong," Lana said. "My father is the only person on the planet that says hunky-dory."

"Look Lana I've let my feelings get the better of me in the past but I've moved and I feel a lot better now, don't worry." Chloe said.

The answer didn't really satisfy Lana; she really hoped that it wasn't feelings for Clark since it seemed as if there was nothing between them.

"Good," Lana lied.

"Great," Chloe agreed. "But I still don't know how I feel about taking sex education from Mrs. Luthor."

"Me neither," Lana agreed.

"I can't believe Lex is married," Chloe commented.

Lana shrugged, "He says he really loves her." She said.

"Yeah well love is rarely if ever logical," Chloe said. "Maybe they just have the right pheromones."

Lana looked at Chloe confused.

"It's chemistry Lana," Chloe said. "Some people have it; other people don't."

Chloe wandered off and Lana found that her attention was completely focused on Desiree who was having her picture taken by several photographers.

"You should stop staring Lana," Lex said surprisingly Lana a bit. "I might think you're jealous."

"Lex come on we don't have that kind of relationship." Lana said.

"I know," Lex admitted. "I was just making a joke."

"Lex, I gotta tell you, I was a bit shell shocked." Lana confided, "You go away on a two week business trip and the next thing I know my mom is putting the finishing touches on your wedding cake."

"Believe me when I left I had no intention of falling in love," Lex said. "I was just struggling through another endless business function when suddenly Desiree was there."

"Must have made quite a first impression," Lana commented.

"She said she had come to save me," Lex said, shocking Lana a bit. "At first I wasn't really sure. I thought she was just attracted to my name or fortune. But as the night wore on I realized that she was different."

"I just happened that fast?" Lana asked thinking that there was something rather odd about this whole deal.

"You can waste your time playing it safe or you can go for it," Lex said. "But at some point you just know when something's right."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the wedding party Lana found herself back at the Talon with Clark. Clark was telling Lana about a letter he'd received from Whitney. It wasn't a topic Lana was particular interested in, Whitney had not proven to be a very nice person. Although maybe the marines had changed him for the better. Clark realized that the topic was making Lana uncomfortable.

"Look it's hot in here," Clark said. "I'm gonna make myself an Iced Cappuccino; do you want an Iced Cappuccino?"

There was a rather awkward silence as Clark gathered the necessary stuff for making the iced cappuccino's.

"I'm sorry I haven't been around that much lately," Lana said. "But ever since the storm the farm has just been a disaster and my father needs all the help he can get."

"It seems like we're all trying to find our way back from that day," Clark said.

"Except for Lex," Lana said as Clark handed her an iced cappuccino. "I've never seen him so happy before."

"It's kinda weird," Clark agreed.

"You know I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks that," Lana said.

"Still you have to admit; it is rather romantic," Clark said.

"Lex makes it seem easy," Lana commented.

"Maybe it is," Clark said suggestively. "I mean Lex's like to act on his passion. Never hold anything back. I wonder if we'll ever be able to do the same."

Lana began having a lot of passionate thought race through her mind as she stared into Clark's eyes. She felt as if her face was turning red from blushing. She blinked her eyes and looked away.

_Oh no_, Lana thought, _It's happening again_.

"Lana what's wrong?" Clark asked.

"I'm not feeling so well," Lana replied as she staggered away trying to keep her eyes closed.

Clark placed a hand on Lana's forehead, "Oh my god you're burning up," Clark commented. "Come on let me drive you home."

As Clark was gathering his keys Lana was no longer able to keep her eyes closed. She opened them and found herself staring directly at the coffee machine. It burst into flames. She began looking else where accidently setting the walls of the Talon on fire.

"Are you okay?" Clark asked.

"Yeah I'm fine," Lana replied.

"Do you know what just happened?" Clark inquired confused.

"I'm not sure…" Lana answered although she had a very good idea.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jonathon found Lana sitting on the steps in the barn. She refused to look at her father as he walked over to his workbench.

"Lana, I thought you be in school already." Jonathon said.

"I'm not going," Lana said. "It happened again at the Talon."

"What another fire?" Jonathon asked.

"It was worse than before." Lana replied panicking. "The fire department said it looked suspicious and what could I say, they're right."

"Come on you and I both know that you didn't mean to start any of these fires," her father said.

"Clark was there," Lana said. "If I had hurt him, I don't know…"

Lana began to walk away.

"Lana. Lana!" Jonathon called after his daughter.

Lana stopped her tracks. He placed his hand on her shoulders and tried to make eye contact with her but Lana refused to do so.

"Lana look at me. Look at me," Jonathon ordered.

Lana slowly raised her eyes to look at her father.

"Lana, I think I have a pretty good idea as to what is triggering this thing," Jonathon said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana slammed a scarecrow down into the ground making sure that it was secure.

"Alright, rule number one," Jonathon said. "Always practice away from the barn."

"Dad I don't get it," Lana said. "I thought the whole point was to stop this from happening."

"Well in order to find the off switch, we need to first find the on switch," Jonathon explained. "Now I want you to remember exactly what you were thinking about the first time that it happened."

Lana stood there staring at the scarecrow for a few moments.

"Dad this might be easier if I…" Lana started to say.

"Was alone," Jonathon finished for her. "Yeah; sorry."

Lana got back to staring at the scarecrow and trying to remember what she was thinking about. Her mind went to the sex education video. But nothing happened. Then she went to the thoughts about Clark that she had. Suddenly her eyes felt different and the scarecrow burst into flames. Lana smiled happy that she had managed to master her new ability.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

Yay now Lana has heat vision. What will she do with it? I think we all have a good idea. I shall say no more. Except the usual spiel, of course.

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. Look forward to seeing some of you there.


	23. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

Lana was sitting in her loft using her telescope as she usually did. She was surrounded by candles which seemed some what ridiculous considering how hot it was thanks to the current heat wave. However Lana had wanted to practice with her new heat vision. She had finished with that and was now partaking in her guilty pleasure, spying on Clark Lang. He was sitting out on his porch just staring up at the sky not really doing anything. Lana stopped looking through the telescope and just stared out across the road herself. She noticed a vehicle turn in to Clark's driveway and pulled up the house. She quickly went back to the telescope. She focused it on the person getting out of the driver side of the car. She was incredibly shocked to see that it was her biology teacher and the new Mrs. Luthor, Desiree. Curious as to what she was up to Lana super sped over to Clark's place and hid behind the car listening to what was going on.

"Um, Mrs. Luthor what are you doing here?" Clark asked somewhat surprised himself at his biology teacher showing up at his house.

"Only at school," she said. "The rest of the time I prefer Desiree."

From her hiding spot behind the car Lana had a very uneasy feeling about Desiree's actions. She thought Desiree must have some kind of ulterior motive

"Are you here to see my aunt?" Clark asked.

"Actually I came by to see you," Desiree replied.

Lana was beginning to feel that this meeting was more and more suspicious.

"You see most girl's like older men, but not me I like younger guys," Desiree explained. "What they lack in experience they make up for in passion."

"What a whore," Lana said softly to herself.

"I saw you staring at me the other day Clark," Desiree said as she kept advancing towards Clark.

Clark tried to back away but found he had nowhere to go from his seat on the bench on the porch.

"I'm sorry, I uh…" Clark stammered to apologize.

"It's okay," Desiree said seductively. "I was actually flattered."

Lana had to resist a very strong urge to jump in and stop this. She wanted to believe that Clark wouldn't go along with this.

"I was actually hoping that we could work on our, student teacher relations," Desiree continued as she rubbed Clark's shoulder.

"I, uh, you're married Mrs. Luthor." Clark stuttered.

Lana saw something purple come out of Desiree's mouth. At that moment she knew for certain that something wasn't right. Desiree leaned in to kiss Clark, but Clark stopped her.

"No," Clark said. "This isn't right. If Lex found out he'd probably kill me. Besides there's someone else."

Lana was piqued with curiosity and surprise. She wondered who this someone else was, and hoped inwardly that it was her. Desiree seemed rather confused that Clark was refusing her.

"I'm sorry Clark," Desiree apologized in what Lana felt was a rather false tone. "I don't know what came over me. I've got to go."

She started back towards her car. Lana quickly bolted at super speed for the end of her own drive. She watched as Desiree got in and began to drive away. Lana watched the car turn and drive past her, however she noticed Desiree make eye contact with her as she drove past. At first Desiree smiled but then Lana thought she saw Desiree glare at her. Lana was once again filled with uneasiness.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day at school Lana decided to talk to Chloe about the new Mrs. Luthor.

"Hey Chloe I wanted to talk to you about…" Lana began

"The new Mrs. Luthor," Chloe finished. "Seems to be the big topic of the day. Hey where were you yesterday?"

"I wasn't feeling very well," Lana replied. "So I take it you've already done some digging?"

"Yeah, Clark told me that she came by his house last night and tried to seduce. I thought he was a little crazy," Chloe said. "I mean she just married Lex, why would she be interested in Clark?"

"It's true," Lana interrupted. "Well I don't know if she tried to seduce him but uh, I saw her over at his house yesterday. One of Lex's cars pulled up to their house and I noticed it and was heading over to see what was up. Then the car left and I noticed that it was Desiree."

"Well I don't know what she was doing," Chloe said. "But Desiree Atkins or Luthor or whatever; is not who she claims she is. Her real name is Alison Sanders and she's originally from Smallville."

"I should tell Lex," Lana said. "I think she's nothing but trouble."

"Lana they just got married," Chloe said.

"I think she's up to something," Lana retorted. "I've got to warn Lex. I think she has some kind of control over him."

"Do you think she's a gold digger?" Chloe asked as she typed something into her computer.

Lana didn't reply and Chloe looked up from the computer but Lana was gone.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana found Lex in his office playing pool.

"Lana, this is a nice surprise." Lex said.

"Lex I've got something you might want to see," Lana said. "It's about Desiree."

She handed him a print out of the profile Chloe had discovered regarding Desiree's alias.

"Her real name is Alison Sanders," Lana said. "She grew up in Smallville. I bet you that she didn't tell you that, did she?"

Lex took the page from Lana, "No," Lex admitted.

"Well if she didn't tell you the truth about that how can you believe anything that she…" Lana tried to say.

"She's my wife," Lex interrupted. "And I love her. I thought we were friends Lana, but you seem to be all jealous because I have another woman in my life."

"Lex I," Lana tried to explain.

"You can let yourself out," Lex cut her off.

Lana turned and dejectedly began to leave the office. As she did she saw Desiree coming in to the office.

"I don't know what you're doing to Lex but I'm not dropping this," Lana warned her.

Desiree casually ignored her threat and went to see her husband. Lana felt herself filled with a new anger that seemed to motivate her. She walked out of the office more determined than ever to figure out what Desiree was up to.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day at school Lana met up with Clark in the hallway, he seemed rather angry about something.

"Clark what's wrong?" Lana asked.

"I've just been evicted from the Talon," Clark replied. "Lex invoked his buyout clause. He used the fire as an excuse."

"What he can't do that, it wasn't your fault." Lana said.

"He knows that," Clark said. "He was just looking for an excuse. People warned me about doing business with him but considering his relationship with you, I thought I could actually trust him."

"But the Talon means everything to you," Lana said.

"This just proves that it was never really mine," Clark said as he rushed off to class upset.

Lana noticed that he passed by Desiree who was hanging up a poster advertising a cheerleader meeting that afternoon. Lana immediately had a suspicion that Desiree had something to do with this. She walked up to talk to her teacher.

"Hello Lana," Desiree greeted her in an incredibly smug tone. "Clark looked upset did he tell you what happened?"

"Yeah, he mentioned that Lex was closing the Talon and somehow I think it wasn't completely his decision," Lana said.

"You're right," Desiree agreed. "Lex and I made the decision as a couple. I wanted to prove a point."

"To who, Clark?" Lana asked.

"No Lana, to you," Desiree answered. "I want you to understand something. I can control the people in your life. I had Lex close down the Talon in a heart beat imagine what would happen if I turned him against this town."

That was not something that Lana wanted to imagine, "I won't let you do that," Lana stated firmly.

"You want this to stop? Then stay out of our lives," Desiree warned her.

"I'm not gonna back off," Lana said stubbornly. "And I'll find a way to get through to Lex."

Desiree just stared into Lana's eyes. Lana wished she could figure out what Desiree was thinking, what she was plotting but she didn't have that ability. She had to go see if Chloe had managed to uncover any new information.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

The storyline is starting to differ. Will the ending differ? Or will Lana save Lex from Desiree?

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. Look forward to seeing some of you there.


	24. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

Much to Lana's chagrin Chloe had as yet, managed to uncover any useful information concerning Desiree Atkins-Luthor also known as Alison Sanders. With no other ideas Lana decided it was finally time to tell her parents.

"Lana, why didn't you tell us earlier?" Martha asked.

"I don't know," Lana replied. "I guess I thought I could figure this one out myself."

"I don't know what we can do for Clark," Jonathon said. "It's not like it's against the law to sweet talk your husband into making a bad business decision."

"Yeah but trying to seduce a teenage boy is," Martha said.

"Mom, it's his word against hers," Lana said. "Chances are they're gonna think Clark's just out to get revenge."

There was a knock at the door and Jonathon got up to answer it. It was Sheriff Ethan Miller.

"Ethan," Jonathon said in surprise as he opened the door for him. "What can I do for you?"

"A teacher down at the school, Mrs. Luthor, claims she saw Lana set her car on fire. That's three suspicious fires in as many days Lana, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to take you into custody until we can get this all sorted out." Ethan said as he pulled out his handcuffs.

"Mom, Dad, there's got to be some sort of mistake here," Lana said.

"Lana I want you to do what Ethan says," her father instructed her. "We'll figure this thing out. I promise."

Lana reluctantly turned around and let Ethan slap the cuffs onto her wrists. Even though she probably could have snapped them apart, Lana had never felt more contained in her entire life.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana had to spend the night in jail, she'd never felt more humiliated in her entire life. She got her first visitors, Chloe and Clark. Lana wasn't entirely sure how she felt about seeing the two of them together but she hoped that it meant they had worked together to help her.

"Sorry we couldn't bake a cake with a file in it for you," Chloe said. "How are you doing though?"

"Besides being accused of being a serial arsonist and having to spend the night in a prison cell, I guess I'm alright," Lana replied.

"We've got some good news though," Clark said. "Chloe and I did some digging on Alison Sanders."

"And what did you find?" Clark asked hopefully.

"Apparently the vixen formerly known as Alison was rather popular with the boys as a teenager," Chloe said. "She was with her boyfriend when the meteors hit."

"The ledger doesn't cover it," Clark said. "But I'm sure you have a pretty good idea as to what they were doing in the truck by the lake."

"A couple of weeks later the boyfriend lost it and murdered her parents," Chloe continued. "Desiree inherited everything."

"Fast forward five years, Desiree is now a teacher. She marries a wealthy shipping executive," Clark said. "Only to see him offed by one of her moonstruck high school students."

"Same confession, same denial six hours later." Chloe said. "It's the classic black widow scenario. Only after murder number two this widow had the misfortune of being heavily invested in dot com stocks. After she lost all the money she decided to go after Lex."

"So she was trying to seduce me to kill him," Clark finished the tale.

"Okay," Lana said. "But that still doesn't explain anything. How was she able to do it?"

"Pheromones," Chloe replied. "She was in the throes of major passion when the meteors hit. If her Pheromone levels were enhanced, she could get a guy to do whatever she wants. Lucky for us Clark Lang seems to be immune to some members of the opposite sex."

"Hey I was tempted," Clark said. "But um…"

He looked from Lana to Chloe unsure about how to continue. Both of them looked at him anxiously.

"I don't how I resisted," Clark said. "But I did."

There was a rather awkward silence as they all kept looking from one another. None of them wanted to admit that an odd love triangle existed between them.

"Time's up you two," Sheriff Miller said breaking the silence.

He led Chloe and Clark out of the cell area.

"Hey I think my dad may have gone to go see Desiree," Lana said.

"Let's hope he's got ice water veins like Clark here," Chloe replied.

Lana watched feeling helpless as the door was locked once again. She looked around until she noticed an alarm box located over one of the light in the hallway. Lana was given an idea.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not that much long after the fire alarm in the Police Station went off. Ethan jumped up from his desk and ran to the cell block. The alarm box across the hall from Lana's cell was on fire. He quickly unlocked Lana's cell.

"I gotta get you out of here Lana," Ethan said. "Stay close to me."

He turned to look back at the fire and when he turned around Lana was gone.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the Luthor mansion Lex was looking over the will that he had recently signed. It stated that upon his death everything would go to his wife Desiree.

"We need to talk," Lex said to his wife.

"About what Lex?" she asked sweetly.

"About everything," Lex replied. "Ever since I met you I feel like I've lost all sense of judgement regarding my friends, my business and suddenly I don't know why."

"Well it's too late for second thoughts Lex," Desiree said. "The papers have been finalized. Everything you own is mine."

"You only inherit in the event of my death," Lex said.

There was a pause as Lex expected Desiree to say something. She didn't say anything.

"Were you planning to kill me?" Lex asked.

"No," Desiree replied.

She walked over to the door that led out of the pool and opened it. Jonathon Kent came in his hunting rifle in hand.

"He is," Desiree said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I know you Mister Kent," Lex pleaded. "You're not a murderer. Please put the gun down."

Lex tried to subtly reach for the phone to call the police. However Jonathon noticed the move and shot the phone destroying it. He re-cocked the rifle.

Suddenly Lana came bursting through the doors that led to the hallway, "Dad don't!" she yelled.

But Jonathon Kent was beyond reason. He aimed the rifle and fired directly at Lex. Lana used her heat vision to melt the bullet before it was able to get to Lex. She hoped that neither Desiree nor Lex would notice. Lex hit the ground as he dove to avoid a bullet that never even reached him. Undaunted Jonathon reloaded the rifle and stalked Lex, determined to kill him. Lana grabbed her father's arm.

"Dad, you can't do this," Lana said.

She tried to pull her father away and accidently banged him head first into a nearby bookshelf. Jonathon slumped to the ground unconscious.

"Dad, dad are you okay?" Lana asked worried.

Lex picked himself up off the ground and decided to go after Desiree himself. She grabbed a bottle of liquor to defend herself and smashed it on Lex's back. Lex bent over in pain offering her the opportunity to ignite the alcohol with a barbeque lighter, which she gladly took. Lex screamed in agony as the flames licked at his back. Lana immediately jumped to action and pulled a curtain off one of the windows and smothered Lex with it. Desiree tried to make a run for the door while Lana was busy with. However Lana had one more ace up her sleeve. She used her heat vision to superheat the doorknob. When Desiree grabbed it, it burned her hand and she howled in pain. Lana made sure the fire was out and Lex was okay. It seemed the problem was finally over.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back at the Kent farm things were back to normal. Martha and Lana were baking muffins in the kitchen.

"I just got off the phone with Ethan," Jonathon said. "Thanks to Lex's statement the arson charges have been dropped and I'm sure that will be the last we'll see of Desiree Atkins."

"What about my escape?" Lana asked nervously.

"Well considering your age and that you saved Lex Luthor's life," Jonathon replied, "They're willing to let you off with a stern warning."

"So do you remember what happened?" Martha asked.

"Let's just say that Desiree had powers of persuasion that far exceed those of a normal woman mom," Lana replied for her father.

"Thanks honey," Jonathon said. "And now Mrs. Kent if you are finished here I would like to take you out for dinner, solo; if you don't mind Lana."

"That's quite alright with me," Lana said. "You guys deserve it."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana was lying in the hammock up in her loft reading a book.

"Lana," Lex said coming up the stairs. "I was hoping I'd find you here."

"Hey Lex," Lana greeted. "How are you feeling?"

"Well thanks to you I've got no serious injuries," Lex replied.

"I meant emotionally," Lana said.

"Like I'm waking up from a bad dream," Lex answered.

"You loved her didn't you?" Lana asked.

"I thought I did," Lex replied. "I filed for an annulment which my lawyers tell me should be finalized in a couple of days. I'll let the police deal with Desiree."

"And then what?" Lana inquired.

"I'll try and be more cautious." Lex said. "Look I'm sorry I accused you of being jealous. I guess in all my passion I wasn't thinking logically. I let it get the best of me, I won't make that mistake again."

"We all make mistakes Lex," Lana said. "I don't think having passion is such a bad thing."

"You're right," Lex agreed. "Passion for life, love, work and friends is a great thing. As long as you keep in check. I was out of control. I should take a page out of your book."

"What do you mean?" Lana asked.

"You, you're always so sure of yourself. You don't let your emotions get the better of you." Lex said.

"You don't know that," Lana stated. "I've made my own mistakes."

"We all make mistakes Lana." Lex said. "We're human."

Lex turned and walked down the steps out of the loft.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

Well that's the end of _Heat_ on to _Duplicity_ and all its THE SECRET IS FINALLY REVEALED glory. But will Pete learn the secret? Or will it be Clark? Or Chloe? Or some whole new character? You'll just have to keep reading to find out.

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. Look forward to seeing some of you there.


	25. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

Pete was driving home one night when suddenly he came across an SUV stopped in the wrong lame. Pete honked his horn at the driver who suddenly shifted into gear and drove away. Pete was about to continue on when he noticed a van on its side off in the corn field. Pete pulled his car over to the side of the road and got out. He quickly ran to help the driver of the van.

"Hey man are you alright?" Pete asked the driver.

The man didn't answer him. He just kept staring with an inquisitive look on his face. Pete followed his gaze. He couldn't believe what he saw.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana was in the barn doing her weekend chores when Pete came running into the barn.

"Hey Pete what's up?" Lana asked as she set down the broom she was currently sweeping with.

"I found something. Something big," Pete said excitedly.

"What is it?" Lana asked.

"You'll see when we get there," Pete replied. "Come on we need to use your dad's truck."

"Why?" Lana asked.

"Just trust me," Pete said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pete excitement in what he had found was able to win Lana over, even though she thought she'd get in a trouble for leaving before she had finished her chores. Pete got Lana to drive to a spot on the road where a vehicle had gone off and over turned.

"Okay Pete," Lana said. "So what is that is just so exciting."

"Come on, follow me," Pete said still jumping with excitement.

Pete led Lana past the over turned van that was lying on the ground and pointed to what lay just beyond it. Lana couldn't believe her eyes. It was the spaceship. She hadn't seen it since the day of the storm when it had suddenly taken off. Now here it was lying a cornfield.

"Come on," Pete said. "It's not that heavy. Let's load it in the truck and take it to my place."

"No," Lana disagreed. "I think we should take it my place."

"You dad will us take it to authorities," Pete argued. "My place is better."

"No he won't," Lana said stubbornly.

"Come on Lana you know that you can't keep a secret from your father." Pete said.

"Pete, we're taking it to my place and that's final," Lana said.

"You're talking like you own this thing," Pete said jokingly.

At that point Lana was met with a decision. She could either tell Pete, or she could risk having him completely blow his secret. She wished she had more time to consider this, she new her father would be upset.

"That's because I do," Lana said.

"What?" Pete asked disbelieving.

"Look we're just gonna take this thing back to _my place_. I'll explain everything on the way," Lana said as she went to pick the spaceship up.

"Let me help you with it," Pete said.

"It's alright I can handle it," Lana said.

She hoisted the ship up off the ground with ease. Pete looked at her startled and then at the space ship. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fainted, falling to the ground with a thud. Lana quickly put the spaceship into the truck and covered it with a tarp. She then grab Pete and put him in the truck.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Halfway back to the Kent farm Pete woke up.

"Alright," Pete said taking a deep breath. "Now can you please tell me that I was seeing things and I did not see you pick that spaceship up off the ground and put it in the truck yourself."

"Alright." Lana agreed. "You didn't see me put in the truck because you fainted."

"What the heck are you?" Pete asked frightened.

"I don't know," Lana replied. "Look just don't freak out okay."

"Why didn't you tell me before now?" Pete asked.

"Because I couldn't let anybody know," Lana said. "All I've ever wanted is to be normal, but as you can probably guess I'm far from normal."

"Well that explains all the times you were able to get to school even though you missed the bus," Pete said. "And what about those fires? Did you do that too?"

"Yes," Lana admitted. "Look I'm still the same person you've known all your life."

"No way," Pete said. "Stop here and let me out."

"No," Lana refused. "Look Pete I need your word that you're not going to say anything to anybody about this. I know it probably hurts you, but the only reason I even told you is because you discovered the ship."

Pete sighed. It was a pretty messed up experience to learn that one of your best friends is an alien. But Lana was still his friend in spite of all that. Regardless of all the amazing things that she could do she was just trying to blend in and be normal.

"I'm sorry," Pete apologized. "I guess… I can understand where you're coming from. I guess if I got freaked out I can imagine why you don't want other people to know."

Lana nodded. "You know you can't tell anybody about this Pete. Not Clark, not Chloe, not your parents, nobody."

"Well what about your folks?" Pete asked.

"They found me when I was just a little girl," Lana replied. "They discovered the ship, of course they know."

"So it's not like I don't have anybody else to talk to about this," Pete said. "Just checking because I might need an outlet and I don't want it to always have to be you."

"Good," Lana agreed. "Because just because I'm an alien doesn't mean I handle grief any better than anybody else. I'm one hundred percent human mentally and emotionally."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back at the farm Lana hid the spaceship back in the storm cellar. Pete watched in complete amazement as she lifted the heavy spaceship by herself. Lana was then faced with the misfortune of trying to explain the situation to her parents, who were more understanding than Lana expected. She got saddled with a few extra chores but she was more than able to handle them.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

Oh! What lame and brief chapter. That's really because Pete is just a catalyst necessary to put the real story in motion and I wanted to get this out of the way. Besides Dr. Morton was never part of the story prior to now I wasn't about to drag him in. Don't worry, a little lameness is always needed to set up something awesome. Besides, who says Pete will be able to keep the secret?

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. Look forward to seeing some of you there.


	26. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

Monday at school was the day that they sold the school ring.

"Nothing says school spirit like a ring that looks like it was jacked from P. Diddy," Chloe commented to Pete and Lana as she examined her ring. "I wonder if the ruby is even real."

Chloe wandered off, presumably to do some research into the stone in the ring.

"You sure you're gonna do this?" Pete asked Lana.

"I'm here aren't I?" Lana replied rhetorically.

Pete looked at Lana with a smirk. "What?" Lana asked.

"I believe your dad's exact words were 'three hundred and fifty dollars is a lot of money from something you really don't need.'" Pete answered.

"I earned that money," Lana said. "Besides my dad said that it was my decision to make."

"Which means that you're really not supposed to buy it," Pete said.

But Lana was undaunted by Pete's attempts to get her to not by the ring. She handed over the form and money and took her ring. After looking at it she slid it onto her right ring finger. Little did Lana know that the stone in the ring was not a ruby as Chloe had suspected. It was actually a piece of meteor rock different from any meteor rock that Lana had ever come across. Nobody noticed the odd red glow that momentarily appeared in Lana's eyes. But they would all notice Lana's sudden change in personality.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"This is the place I was talking about," Lana said after school showing a print out to Pete. "It's right over the county line and they don't check ID's."

"Lana this sounds like a bar," Pete said.

"I know," Lana admitted. "Hey aren't you the one that says if you wanna have fun you gotta take some risks? We can go this weekend."

Pete couldn't believe his ears, "The day Lana Kent decides to break the rules, I'll be there," he declared with a grin.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jonathon Kent was in the barn cleaning the motorcycle that he had painstakingly restored in his spare time. Martha came into the barn to bring him a cup of coffee.

"Thanks," he said. "Hey where's Lana?"

Right on cue Lana came flying into the barn.

"Looking for me?" she asked.

"Yeah," her father replied. "Weren't you supposed to be here with me, working on the garage door?"

"Dad I uh, look that'll take like two second," Lana stammered.

Jonathon noticed Lana looking at her class ring.

"And I thought we agreed that you weren't going to buy that ring," Jonathon said.

"I thought we decided that it was my decision to make," Lana retorted.

"I thought you were going to make the right decision." Jonathon said. "Lana that ring costs a lot of money."

"Dad I'm tired of worry about every nickel and dime around here," Lana said.

"Lana why don't you go wash up for dinner?" Martha suggested to try and break up the argument.

"I'm not hungry," Lana said. "Besides I have chores to do."

She shot off before either her mother or father could say anything else.

"What's gotten into her?" Jonathon asked.

"I guess it's just a little bit of teenage rebellion." Martha replied.

"Yeah well I think I liked dealing with heat vision a lot better than that," Jonathon commented. "Martha that was a bad decision she made."

"But it was her to make," Martha said. "I seem to recall a certain young man who defied his father and spent five hundred dollars on an old motorcycle."

Jonathon frowned at her, but she was right as usual. He had been almost exactly the same as a teenager in defying his father. He just didn't want to let go of 'daddy's little girl' that he had become so attached to.

"Pushing her is only going to make her rebel more," Martha said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana showed up for the study group with Chloe, Pete and Clark at the Talon. Clark came to the door to open it for her.

"Hey Lana, I'm glad you're here." Clark greeted. "Um, where are your books?"

"I was hoping we could do this tomorrow," Lana said. "It's really nice out tonight, we should do something together. Go for a drive or go dancing or something."

Clark was almost offended, "Are you asking me on a date?" he asked.

"I'm asking you to have some fun with me," Lana replied.

"This is uh, unexpected to say the least," Clark said. "But we really need to study."

"Do you know that when you get all serious your nose crinkles up? It's really sexy," Lana commented.

Clark began to feel really uneasy and it showed in the way he was fidgeting, "Pete and Chloe are waiting for us," he managed to choke out.

He headed back to Chloe and Pete with an awkward gait as he was so much more focused on the thoughts running through his head than about trying to walk properly. Lana stood in the door for a few seconds and then followed him in. Chloe and Pete were sitting at one of the tables, books spread out everywhere discussing American History. However American History was the last thing on Lana's mind at the moment. Lana sat down beside Pete.

"Hey girl," Pete greeted her.

"You guys wanna go to the bar?" Lana asked everyone.

"Lana you can commit academic suicide but the rest of us really need to cram for this test," Chloe said.

"High school is supposed to be fun, this is not fun." Lana said trying to explain her case. "Come on; my treat."

"Lana when did you and the money truck hook up?" Pete asked.

"Since I decided that there's no percentage in playing poverty," Lana replied.

Chloe stood up and picked up her coffee mug. "I'm gonna get a refill." She said.

"I'll give you hand," Clark offered also standing.

Chloe and Clark went over to the counter and began fussing about with the coffee machine and what not. They were probably talking about Lana as well, but Lana didn't care.

"Did you know that Clark has a birthmark on his cheek?" Lana asked Pete.

"No he doesn't," Pete said still working on his history notes.

"Not that cheek," Lana said with a smirk.

That got Pete's attention. "Lana are you doing what I think you're doing?"

Lana replied to his question with a grin.

"Lana's that's Clark you're scoping man," Pete said.

"Not just Clark," Lana said.

Pete waved his hand in front of Lana's face distracting her X-ray vision.

"Are you turning bisexual on me?" Pete asked in a whisper.

Lana just laughed. "Come on. Let's go have some fun."

"Lana, this test is half our grade," Pete replied. "If you wanna party this weekend I'm with you. But right now, I need to do this."

"Alright," Lana sighed standing. "When you're through with boring one oh one you give me a call."

She left the Talon as not only Pete, but Clark and Chloe watched her in complete confusion.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

Just like the show _Red_ you're gonna gradual build up into "Alpha Lana". I guarantee that it will end differently though since the female character (whose name escapes me) is not in here.

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. Look forward to seeing some of you there.


	27. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

Martha and Jonathon were in the kitchen the next morning. Jonathon was on the phone while Martha cooked pancakes and sausages for breakfast.

"You're kidding?" Jonathon said to the phone. "Oh. Thank you."

"What's wrong?" Martha asked him as he hung up the phone.

"That was the credit card company," Jonathon replied. "They were calling to confirm some charges made to our credit cards last night."

Neither Jonathon or Martha had any idea what that was about. Then they both heard some loud noise coming from the barn. The both headed out their to investigate.

Up in her loft in the barn, Lana was listening to loud music from MTV pumped through a very expensive looking home theatre. She was flopped out on a leather couch. A leather jacket sat on her old desk.

"Lana, where did you get all this?" her mother demanded above the noise of the music.

"Discount Eddies in Metropolis," Lana replied. "Open all night."

"You mean to tell, you're telling," Jonathon tried to say but he could get his point across over the music.

Lana grabbed the remote and muted it.

"You mean to tell me that you bought all this junk?" Jonathon asked angrily.

"Yeah," Lana replied flatly. "I figured it was time I had all the cool stuff everyone else has."

"Lana Kent you stole from us," Jonathon said.

"No," Lana said. "I used your credit cards. What's the big deal? we don't have to pay for it right away."

"I'll tell you the big deal," Jonathon said furiously. "The big deal is that you're gonna take all this garbage back right now c'mon."

"Yeah right," Lana tested.

"Yeah, right." Jonathon affirmed. "And then after you've done that you and I are gonna sit down and have a nice long conversation about this new attitude that you've developed recently."

Lana grabbed the leather jacket from off the floor and put it on.

"Well dad you can talk all you want," she said. "I'm out of here."

There was nothing that Martha or Jonathon Kent could do to stop their daughter. She jumped out of the loft and landed on the ground beside Jonathon's motorcycle. She immediately hopped on and pulled out a pair of sunglasses from in her jacket's pocket. After putting them on she started the motorcycle up and drove off, ignoring the shouts from her parents to do otherwise.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Lana pulled up to school riding a motorcycle nobody could believe it, least of all Chloe, Pete and Clark.

"Okay what planet is the girl from and what did she do with Lana?" Chloe asked.

They went to meet their friend as she parked the motorcycle.

"So much for the shy and retiring Lana Kent," Clark commented.

"Just going for a ride to school," Lana said. "Say the word and I'll take you on a road trip."

The look on Pete's face was a combination of shock and something similar to glee, until he realized that she was talking to Clark.

The school bell ring and Chloe and Clark went off to class.

"You know I always knew you were a hot chick," Pete said. "But this just takes it to a whole new level. What's wrong with this picture?"

"People change Pete," Lana replied.

A red truck pulled up into the parking lot. It was Jonathon Kent.

"Lana, I'd like a word with you please," Jonathon said.

"I can't right now," Lana said.

Jonathon got out of the truck barely able to contain his rage.

"Get in the truck Lana," Jonathon ordered between gritted teeth.

"Give me one good reason why I should?" Lana asked as she walked past him.

Jonathon grabbed her by the arm and spun her around, "Because I am your father and I just told you to get in the truck." Jonathon said angrily.

"You're not my father," Lana said to him. "You never were."

She shoved him roughly and he flew back and banged into the truck. Lana walked off to class not even bothering to look back.

"You alright sir?" Pete asked rushing to Jonathon's aid.

Jonathon was physically going to be alright but inside he felt that his pride was rather damaged.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pete went to meet Chloe in the Torch office after school

"Pete," Chloe said elatedly as he came through the door. "You are not gonna believe what I found out. Our el cheapo class rings are in fact, fake."

Pete really wasn't at all worried about that topic at the moment. "Chloe, there's something really wrong with Clark."

"More than usual?" Chloe asked.

"Last night at the talon, the motorcycle, other stuff." Pete replied picking up a weird rock thing that was on Chloe's desk.

"What kind of other stuff?" Chloe inquired.

"The kind of stuff that has Mister and Mrs. Kent calling my house," Pete answered. "They're really worried like they think he's on drugs or something."

"Clark would have to be on drugs to be on drugs," Chloe said stating the blatantly obvious. "Uh, be careful with that."

She grabbed the rock thing away from Pete and put it back down on her desk.

"Well what is it anyway?" Pete asked.

"My exposé," Chloe replied. "See the school rings, they're a rip off. The jewellery company was substituting worthless meteor rocks for rubies to save money."

"Uh Chloe, the rings are red, meteor rocks are green." Pete said.

"Not the lode they found near Hob's Pond," Chloe replied pick up the rock thing once again. "Note the red vein."

Pete immediately had an idea as to what was affecting Lana. He sat the rock formation down on Chloe desk and ran out of the office leaving Chloe rather stunned and confused.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pete had gone to the Kent's house and explained Chloe's discovery of the red meteor rock.

"Chloe's going to force a recall because of this stuff," Pete said.

"You think that's what's causing Lana's behaviour?" Jonathon asked.

"Well that's when it all started; right after she slipped on the ring." Pete replied.

"Well if the green rocks affect Lana physically maybe the red meteor rocks affect her emotionally." Martha said.

"It would sure explain her personality change," Jonathon agreed.

"The longer she's exposed to the green meteor rocks the worse she gets, if the same is true for the red one… god help us all." Martha said ominously.

"We've gotta find him and we've gotta get that ring back," Jonathon said.

"Well how are you going to do that?" Martha asked.

"I've got an idea," Pete piped up.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

Yay, Pete has come to the rescue. Too bad he's such a boring character. Well I hoped you liked biker Lana because she'll be gone by the next chapter. And after that, that is where it _really_ gets interesting, because that's when I throw in my own tangents.

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. Look forward to seeing some of you there.


	28. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

Pete discussed his plan with Jonathon. They then went on a search for Lana. With a tip from Chloe, who was still at the Torch, Pete and Jonathon were able to find out where Lana was. Apparently she had gone out to Flanders' field to make out with some random guy.

"What are you guys going to do?" Chloe asked. "I want to help her."

"Trust me," Pete said. "You don't want to be there when her dad gets to her. I don't want to be there but he needs back up."

"Why?" Chloe asked.

"Lana's a tough girl," Pete replied. "Remember what she did to Whitney? And then she was able to carry Clark all the way to the hospital from where she found him."

"Oh yeah," Chloe said. "Whoa, I never realized it. She comes across as so gentle."

"I know," Pete agreed. "Look, keep an eye out for her just in case she's already moved on from whatever she was doing out there in Flanders' field."

"Will do," Chloe agreed.

"Thanks Chloe," Pete said as he left the torch to meet up with Jonathon Kent again.

"Come on Pete," Jonathon said when Pete arrived. "We need to hurry."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Pete asked Jonathon for about the umpteenth time.

Jonathon nodded. "She'll recover," Jonathon replied. "She a lot tougher than you'd think."

Pete wasn't talking about Lana's physical toughness though. He was talking about her mental toughness.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana was out in Flanders' field making out with some random guy she had accidently bumped into in the hallway. She didn't know why, she didn't really care, she thought he'd looked cute. But now she was getting bored of this.

"You're no fun anymore," Lana said breaking away from the lip lock. "Get out of here before I start screaming rape."

Before the poor kid could protest, Pete came traipsing through the cornfields and almost stepped on them.

"Get out of here," Pete said to the kid trying to make himself look real tough.

The kid probably thought this was some kind of prank being pulled on him and he quickly took off without a second thought.

"Pete what are you doing here?" Lana demanded to know angrily.

"I'm trying to help you Lana," Pete explained. "Everybody is worried about you, especially your parents."

"They're not my real parents," Lana said.

Jonathon Kent stepped out from the endless rows of corn, "Lana I am your father and you are going to come home with me right now." He said.

"You're not my father," Lana said. "And you can't stop me."

"That where you're wrong," Jonathon said with a slight smirk. "Pete, do it."

Pete pulled something out of his pocket and held it towards Lana. Lana immediately felt weak and dropped to the ground. She looked up to see what Pete was holding. It was piece of meteor rock. She tried to crawl away but Jonathon pulled a piece of meteor rock out of his pocket. She was trapped and she was beginning to feel weaker each second.

"Now you just need to give me the ring," Jonathon said holding out his hand. "And all this will be over."

"Is that all this is about?" Lana asked faintly but still defiant. "You're not happy about me buying this ring."

"No, Lana, that ring is a piece of meteor rock," Pete said. "It's affecting your mind."

Jonathon nodded. "Now give me the ring Lana." He ordered her.

But Lana refused and clenched her fist. Jonathon reached out and pried her fingers apart. She was too weak to resist him now. He slid the ring off her finger and hurled it away into the field.

"Dad?" Lana said looking up at her father. "I'm sorry."

Jonathon realized that Lana was back to normal now. He quickly threw the chuck of meteor rock away and Pete did likewise. Lana was able to pull herself to a seated position.

"It's okay Lana," her dad said hugging her. "It's okay."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thankfully for Lana she hadn't done anything that she seriously regretted. Her parents had returned all the stuff she had bought in Metropolis on their credit card. Lana felt really uneasy though as she came downstairs to have dinner with her parents that night.

She waited for quite a while just outside the dining room.

"You know dad, the things that I did and I said; I really didn't mean them," Lana apologized to her father.

"Lana, the red meteor rock may have affected your personality but we gotta face it. Those feeling come from somewhere," Jonathon said. "Now I know that compared to Lex we don't really have a whole lot around here but up until now I never really thought that it bothered you."

"Maybe it does," Lana agreed. "Sometimes, but then I really remember what's important to me. Then none of that stuff matters. I realize that no matter how crazy I got you two stuck by me and that's something that all of the money in the world can't buy."

Lana took her seat at her usual place at the table.

"But still it was a very close call," Jonathon said.

"When I put that ring on I felt this sudden urge to tell the whole world my secret," Lana said.

"But you didn't Lana," her mother said.

"I know but those feelings are still there," Lana said. "It's like I have these two identities and I don't know which one is the real me."

"The real you is the one that came back to us," Martha said. "And we never had any doubt that you would."

They were interrupted by the distant sound of thunder.

"Wow, looks like it's going to rain tonight," Lana said looking out the window.

"Doesn't exactly set up the happy ending weather you'd expect for this little story does it?" Jonathon joked.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clark Lang was staring out of his bedroom window. He saw the final light go out in the Kent household. The light he had been waiting for, the light to Lana's room. He checked to see that his Aunt was asleep. He then put on his raincoat and trudged out into the rain.

He wasn't really sure why he was doing this. Maybe it's because he figured that after all the weird things that had gone on in her life recently that Lana needed a pick me up. He hoped she'd like his surprise.

He took an aluminium ladder from inside the Kent's barn and set it up outside Lana's window. There was a loud clap of thunder as lightning flashed from somewhere nearby.

Undaunted Clark began climbing the ladder, despite the perils that it presented. He got up to the top and tried to quietly lift Lana's window open, but it was stuck. He tugged harder and it suddenly flew open. The ladder beneath him began to wobble. Clark grabbed the window sill with his left hand, his right hand waved about in the air as he tried to steady himself.

A bolt of lightning came down from the clouds striking the ring on Clark's finger. It was one of the class rings. The red meteor rock shattered into tiny fragments. Clark fell into Lana's room the window falling shut behind him as the ladder toppled to the ground.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

What was Clark doing and what just happened? Is this the surprise twist I was talking about? Or am I just jerking you around? Read on dear reader, read on. I've recently created some forums under the title of Smallville Revised. (Fanfic doesn't seem to like me posting links…) Drop by.

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. Look forward to seeing some of you there.


	29. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

"Lana, get up! You're gonna be late for school," Martha called up stairs to her daughter.

Lana slowly pulled herself out of bed. She shuffled over to her dresser to check her hair in the mirror and see how bad it was. On the way over her foot bumped into something. She looked down to see Clark lying on the floor of her room. Lana was torn with two options. One was to scream about how Clark was spying on her. However, Lana kind of liked the idea that Clark was spying on her besides, it was fair since she often spied on him. The other option was to wake Clark up and find out what he was doing as quietly as possible. This may be a problem since it seemed that Clark was a heavy sleeper.

Lana went into the bathroom and got a small glass of water and poured it on Clark's face; that was enough to wake him up.

"Lana?" Clark asked in state of shock. "What are you doing here? Is this my room? Is this some kind of joke?"

"This is my room," Lana said. "Clark what were you doing last night."

"I went to bed like I usually do," Clark replied. "Why?"

Lana opened the window. The rain had stopped and it looked like it would be a partly cloudy day. She looked down and saw the ladder on the ground.

"Explain that," Lana said pointing to the ladder.

Clark looked down at the ladder. "I dunno. My dad must have left it there," he replied with a shrug.

"Your dad?" Lana asked. "Clark your dad's been dead for thirteen years."

"Are you talking about my biological father?" Clark responded with his own question. "Because I'm pretty sure that my adopted father Jonathon Kent is still quite alive and healthy. He was last night."

"Are you sure you're alright?" Lana placed a hand on Clark's forehead. "You don't have a fever, but you're delusional."

"Would you please tell me just what is going on here Lana?" Clark insisted. "If this is some kind of a joke, I don't get it."

"Lana, honey," Martha called as she came up the stairs. "What's taking you… so… long?"

She stopped at the door way stunned to see Clark standing there.

"Mom," Lana and Clark said in unison. "I can explain."

They both looked at each other, "Your mother? She's my mother." They said in unison once again.

"Okay, I'm sure this is just some strange joke that you've managed to trick Clark into participating in Lana. But it's not funny. Now hurry up, your dad needs your help with the tractor before you go to school." Martha said.

"Mo… Mrs. Kent," Clark said. "This isn't a joke. I don't know what's going on but when I went to bed last night I was the adopted son of Jonathon and Martha Kent, an alien from some unknown planet."

"Wait, you thought you were me?" Lana asked.

"No," Clark replied. "I didn't think it. I was."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clark told his perspective of his life story over breakfast. Lana was so interested to hear it that she didn't even touch her food. Both Jonathon and Martha were equally intrigued. Clark's story about how he had been found was way too detailed and exact to the condition under which they had found Lana to be a coincidence.

"What can I do to prove I'm not lying?" Clark asked after he finished his tale.

"Well it's actually quite simple," Lana said. "If you've really got all the same abilities that I do then you can go help my dad with the tractor."

Lana looked to her father seeking approval. "That's a pretty easy one," Jonathon agreed. "Come on Clark, show me your stuff."

The two of them got up and trudge across the field to the tractor which had broken down once again. Lana stood in the doorway watching and day dreaming.

"I know what you're thinking," Martha said. "I just don't want you getting your hopes ups. We're going to have to try to get him back to where he came from."

"What if he doesn't want to go?" Lana asked.

"We'll take it as we go I guess," Martha replied. "I mean we don't even know if this is some weird mind affecting thing that he's suffering from…"

Suddenly the tractor came flying through the air towards the house. Lana quickly ran outside and caught it. A second later Clark came flying up at super speed.

"Sorry," Clark said with a smile. "I guess I don't know my own strength sometimes."

"I know the feeling," Lana sympathized with a grin of her own.

Lana glanced back over her shoulder at her mother. Now her mother had no choice but to believe her.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clark and Lana arrived at school together, Lana was little worried about what Chloe would think. She knew that Chloe still had feelings for Clark, however the first person that they ran into was fortunately not Chloe; it was Pete.

"Hey guys what's up?" Pete asked; then he added more to himself. "Man, Chloe is not gonna like this."

"Pete I know I can trust you to keep a secret," Lana said. "And believe me this on is a whopper."

"What's a whopper?" Chloe asked as she emerged from behind a crowd of people.

Lana could tell instantly what the first thing Chloe had guessed at was, and even though it was incorrect Lana couldn't tell her the truth. Lana tried to avert her eyes from Chloe's accusing glare. Beside her Clark stood completely befuddled he probably had no idea about the weird love triangle that was going on.

"It's nothing you need to worry yourself about," Pete replied jumping to Lana's rescue. "Kind of something between me and her."

"How come you were going to say it in front of Clark?" Chloe asked suspiciously.

"Uh, well I kind of found out by accident already," Clark answered giving a distorted half truth.

"Why are you keeping this a secret from me?" Chloe asked. "I thought we were friends."

"It's a guy thing," Lana said. "Believe me the last thing Pete and Clark want is for you to know."

"Yeah it's kind of annoying that Lana knows." Clark added.

"Oh, is this about, ah, oh." Pete faked knowing what they were talking about. "Yeah, you're right. Chloe would not want to know about it."

"All you guys are doing is making me more curious to find out," Chloe said. "If you don't want to tell me just say so."

"We don't want to tell you Chloe," Clark said flatly.

Chloe was hurt that Clark said that. But yet as she walked away with hurt feelings she still managed to glare daggers at Lana. Lana felt completely awful but her double life made it impossible for her to explain it to Chloe. Pete, Clark and Lana all had a free period so they decided to go to the Torch office. Chloe was not there since she had a class.

"You told Clark you secret?" Pete whispered to Lana trying to keep Clark from overhearing.

"No," Lana replied. "Clark told me his."

"What secret?" Pete asked.

Lana pulled a pencil out of her backpack and motioned for Clark to present his hand. He placed his hand on the desk. Lana stabbed the pencil down on Clark's hand with immense force. Pete's winced anticipating the sight of a pencil driven threw Clark's hand. That didn't happen. The pencil shattered all over the place as it smashed up against Clark's hand.

"Wait a minute," Pete said. "I thought you were the alien, Lana."

"Something happened last night," Lana said. "I don't know what."

"It's like some alternate universe or something," Clark continued. "And in it, I'm the alien."

"So there might be a reality out there where I'm the alien?" Pete asked excitedly.

"Maybe," Lana replied. "Look I don't know if we'll be able to send Clark back."

"Hey what happened to your ring Clark?" Pete asked changing the subject.

Clark looked at the ring on his hand. The stone was missing.

"I don't know," Clark replied. "It's a good thing I'm not wearing it. Wait a minute, I've got a theory. Now apparently the Clark from here was trying to climb a ladder into your room during a thunderstorm."

Lana nodded, "Yeah but what does that have to do with anything."

"Green meteor rocks, with enough electrical current and contact is able to transfer my powers to someone else," Clark said. "So maybe red meteor rock makes me shift realities."

"That's pretty far fetched," Pete said.

"Yeah but we don't really know anything about this stuff. I it causes a lot of weird stuff, for all we know that could be true." Lana argued.

"It's just a theory but it's the best I've got right now," Clark said.

"Even so, how will we be able to generate enough electricity to send you back? And even then how do we know you'll head to the right reality? I mean there could be thousands out there." Lana said.

"Do you really want to risk it?" Pete asked. "You don't have it so bad here."

"It would really dangerous too," Lana said. "We'd have to expose you to the red rocks and that might not go over well with an altered personality."

"Beside, it may be that the Clark on the otherside needs to find his way back here, and you're stuck here until he does," Pete suggested.

Clark sighed, "I don't know. I guess I'm just worried about my parents."

"Hey at least you still have the same friends," Pete said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

Yep, definitely not a meteor freak. Now the question is, just how long will the 'real' Clark stick around here. Will he ever find his way back? Or will there be a continuation of the Kryptonian race? And what about Chloe, what will happen with her relationship with Lana? Will this new development destroy it, or will Lana be able to hold on to her best friend? So many question, so much more to write and then have read. Next update will probably be after Christmas though, but it should be a big one.

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000) or irc. (Port 7000), channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. And if that doesn't work for you, look for the Smallville Revised Forum in the Smallville section of forums. Look forward to seeing some of you in either place.


	30. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

Clark went back Lana's house. He still did not feel comfortable with the fact that he was supposed to live with 'Nell. He had to try and psych himself up to go face her. He also felt that he needed to talk to Lana about Chloe. He sensed that something wasn't quite right with Lana and Chloe's relationship, and by extension with his and Chloe's relationship.

They were up in the loft studying biology homework while they discussed the situation.

"I need to know what's going on with Chloe," Clark said. "I mean she kept avoiding me at school, was it because of what I said earlier."

"Probably," Lana replied. "She, I… she's probably feeling a bit jealous and thinks that I'm trying to turn you against her or something."

"Why would she think that?" Clark asked.

"Well you were supposed to go to the Spring Formal with her. You asked her out and everything, but that didn't go over so well when I ended up rescuing you from the tornado you got caught up in," Lana explained.

"Classic date stealing scenario," Clark mumbled. "I can see why she'd be jealous but this seems to have escalated a bit."

"Well I don't really know what's caused that," Lana said. "We had a situation with our biology teacher; she was controlling people with…"

"Pheromones," Clark interrupted. "I know I experienced something similar."

"Well she tried to seduce you but somehow you resisted, even with out your abilities," Lana said. "That one still has me wondering."

However Clark had a pretty good idea as to what the reason was. "I think I know," Clark said.

"Oh really?" Lana asked. "Well please enlighten me on the inner workings of Clark."

"It's actually pretty simple," Clark answered. "Love."

"Yeah but who was the other Clark in love with?" Lana asked.

"Well if he's anything like me, which he probably is…" Clark replied.

He let the answer hang, wondering if he should tell Lana or not. He mulled over the decision until Lana interrupted him.

"Who?" Lana asked anxiously.

"You," Clark told her.

Lana was completely speechless. She was completely overjoyed but at the same time she felt horrible for Chloe. Chloe had similar feelings for Clark as well.

"What about Chloe?" Lana inquired.

"Chloe is a really good friend," Clark answered. "But I don't have the same feelings for Chloe that I do for you Lana."

Clark suddenly stared a random spot on the floor of the loft, "I can't believe I just said that," he muttered to himself.

"Why?" Lana asked.

Clark shook his head snapping out of his sudden intense concentration on that spot on the floor. "I don't know, I've never been really open about sharing my feeling with anybody except my parents." Clark replied.

"Well I'm glad you were open with me," Lana said. "I have the same problem."

"I should talk to Chloe," Clark said. "I feel I need to smooth this situation over some how."

"It couldn't hurt," Lana agreed.

At that moment Martha Kent came up in the lodge, "Clark would you like to stay over for dinner?" she asked.

"Um yeah," Clark agreed. "That would be great."

Martha nodded and went back down to prepare dinner.

"I'm not used to this," Clark said. "I'm so used to having dinner with them every night. It's weird."

Lana wished she could sympathize with him but she couldn't. She had no idea what it was like. He still knew the same people and had the same friends, more or less, but everything in his life was different. Even his last name was different.

_It must be so confusing and frightening for him_, Lana thought to herself as she stared into Clark's eyes.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clark decided that he needed to talk to Chloe in person. He met up with her at the Talon. She didn't seem all that thrilled to see him though.

"What did you want to talk to me about Clark?" Chloe asked.

"Look, Chloe, I just wanted to apologize for this morning," Clark said. "The way Pete, Lana and I were behaving was totally inappropriate."

"You know I expect that kind of behaviour from Lana and Pete every now and then," Chloe said. "But never from you."

"Look, I was pressured into the situation a bit and I was acting a bit rash," Clark tried to explain. "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings or anything."

"So are you going to let me in on the secret?" Chloe inquired.

Clark shook his head, "No," he answered. "I did promise them that I wouldn't tell anyone."

"This doesn't have anything to do with you seeing a lot more of Lana lately does it?" Chloe asked.

"What? Chloe it's not like we're going out or anything," Clark said. "I mean come on don't you think you're being a bit jealous."

"Answer the question Clark," Chloe said.

"I have been seeing her more lately," Clark admitted. "But it's not what you think."

"Oh so now you know how I think?" Chloe asked as she began get upset.

Clark looked up at the ceiling and sighed. He wanted to slap some sense into Chloe, she just wasn't thinking rationally.

"Chloe I'm sorry but," Clark began to apologize again.

"I don't need your apologies, just go back to Lana," Chloe said. "You seem to like her more anyway."

Before Clark could get in another word Chloe stood up and stormed out of the Talon. Clark banged his fists against his head and pulled on his hair. He was so angry with himself. Rather than defusing the bomb he just lit the fuse.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day at school Clark had some rather interesting news for Lana and Pete, besides his tale of how he probably made things with Chloe worse.

"Your aunt is moving to Metropolis?" Pete repeated.

"That's what I just said," Clark confirmed. "But I don't want to move to Metropolis. She said I have a week to find a place to stay."

"Well I wish could help you," Pete said. "But there's no room at my place."

"Well maybe I could talk to my parents and see," Lana said. "We could always use more help around the farm. And besides it's already a lot like home for you."

"That would be great," Clark said. "Although I'm really considering trying to experiment with going back to my own reality."

"Clark, I really don't think it's worth the risk." Lana said.

Clark looked at her. He knew her real motivation, it was perhaps a bit selfish but he was understood it. All his life he'd wanted to be with someone just like him, now there was her. She was the one thing that made this reality worthwhile. She was yet to actually admit it to him, but Clark was pretty certain that she was in love with him.

"You're right," Clark agreed. "There are definitely some things here that I can get used to."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

Wow, this is developing into a romance – drama here. Hopefully I've written some action in the next chapter or I'm going to start boring myself. There's still the question of what's going to happen to Clark too and has Chloe been lost as a friend or is their still a hope for Lana to fix that. And what about Lex and Lionel Luthor? What have they done for the story lately? NOT MUCH! Will they do something? Will they even make an appearance? Maybe they'll bring some action. How do you find out? Easy, you keep on reading.

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000), irc. (Port 7000), or irc. (Port 6667), then go to channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. And if that doesn't work for you, look for the Smallville Revised Forum in the Smallville section of forums. Look forward to seeing some of you in either place.


	31. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30**

Clark was moving his stuff over to the Kent farm two days later.

"I'm glad your parents are letting me stay with you," Clark said to Lana. "Man it feels weird, them not being my parents. How'd you manage to convince them to let me move in anyway?"

"Actually I never even had to ask," Lana replied. "They heard about your situation from someone else and when I got who they asked me how I felt about you moving in."

"That sounds like something they would do," Clark smiled.

"I don't think this will help things with Chloe though," Lana said glumly.

She and Chloe had been avoiding each other for most of the week, and when they did speak it was usually a brief argument that often ended with Chloe storming off and Lana with not knowing just what had happened. Things with Clark were actually worse; Chloe was not even willing to speak to him. She was cordial with Pete but she was using him as a messenger if she did want to say something to Clark and it was starting to bother him.

"Maybe it's just a phase," Clark suggested. "I'd hate to think we'd lose Chloe as a friend."

"I hope so," Lana said. "I really think that we both should go and talk to her, together."

"Well she's probably at the Torch," Clark suggested. "We might be able to catch her."

"Alright, I'll race you," Lana said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As they arrived at the Torch, Chloe was just getting ready to leave.

"Chloe, we need to talk," Lana said.

"In case you didn't know I'm not exactly on good terms with you and you can tell Clark that I'm not speaking to him." Chloe said angrily.

"Chloe, don't you think you're being a little bit childish?" Lana asked.

Chloe took a deep breath to calm herself down. "You're right," she said. "I'm a civilized person; I can deal with this in a civilized manner."

Lana didn't really like how Chloe said that only she was civilized, but she wasn't about to start another argument between the two of them again. "So can we go somewhere to talk?" Lana asked. "The Talon perhaps?"

"Fine," Chloe agreed. "I could use a coffee anyway."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Chloe asked.

"Well you've probably heard that Clark's aunt is moving out of town," Lana said. "And well so he can stay in Smallville my parents asked Clark to move in with us."

"We didn't want you to take it the wrong way by hearing from someone else," Clark added. "So we decided to come tell you ourselves. In light everything that's happened recently."

There was a silence as they waited for Chloe to say something. She kept looking between Lana and Clark, and odd look on her face. Lana wished she was psychic so that she could know what was going on in Chloe's head.

"I can't believe you two," Chloe said. "You just keep getting worse."

"What?" Clark and Lana both asked in unison and surprise.

"I can't believe you. You set this up so you could rub it in more." Chloe said as she got up and left.

"Chloe no, it's nothing like that at all," Lana said as she stood up and tried to stop Chloe from leaving.

"I'm sick of you lying to me all the time Lana," Chloe cut her off as she was almost in tears. "I don't want to talk to you, ever again."

With that Chloe stormed out of the Talon, everybody watched her go with curiosity; except for Clark and Lana. Lana watched her friend leave with complete and utter shock etched on her face. She then sat back down dejected beside Clark.

"What did we do wrong?" Lana asked as the tears began to flow.

"I don't know," Clark said. "I just, don't know."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unfortunately the situation with Chloe did not improve; in fact it got a little worse when she kept trying to get Pete involved in some nasty scheme she thought up against Clark and Lana. Fortunately Pete was a loyal friend to both Clark and Lana and he didn't go along, even though it meant that he also was no longer on speaking terms with Chloe. However, despite the unpleasant situation with Chloe, Smallville was relatively normal. That is, until Lex Luthor's company made an interesting discovery.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So what exactly did you find that's so interesting?" Lex asked.

He was being led through a series of caves by the foreman of the construction crew that was recently hired to build a new office complex. However during the construction they had discovered something and the foreman felt that Lex should see it.

"I don't really know what it is myself, Mister Luthor," the foreman said. "But I'm almost certain that you'd want to see it yourself."

They rounded a corner to a slightly more open area of the cave. The foreman shone his flash light on the walls. Lex looked about; all over the walls were paintings. At first glance they looked like your standard Native American cave paintings, if such things could be considered standard. However, these paintings were different. There was clearly something different about these. One of them seemed to depict a spaceship coming to earth in a meteor shower, the others depicted strange creatures. They were not the normal animal pictures that one would have expected to see.

"There's something even more interesting," the foreman said.

He led Lex over to another section of the cave wall. This section had a bunch of strange symbols carved into it. Lex found this rather odd. The natives of this area had never developed a written language, so it couldn't be that. It appeared very similar to hieroglyphics, but something about it seemed more advanced. However the most interesting part was a strange engraving in the middle of the wall. It was octagonal in shape and about a quarter inch deep with sides that measure approximately an inch each.

"You're right," Lex said. "I did want to see this."

"So are we going to cancel the construction Mister Luthor?" the foreman asked.

"No," Lex replied. "No. But we're not going to be building here. I'll arrange to have the construction moved a little further away from here."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana was at the Luthor mansion. She wanted to pay Lex a visit, she wasn't keen on losing another friend and she also was curious about what was going on with Lex's recent construction project.

"Lana," Lex said when she entered his office. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Can't a friend just stop by to say hi and have a friendly chat?" Lana asked.

"You'll have to forgive me," Lex apologized. "I don't really have a lot of that in my life. Comes with being a Luthor."

"So what's new with you Lex?" Lana inquired.

"Well guess I can tell you this since the secret will be out soon. The construction crew that was building that office complex made the most remarkable discovery," Lex replied.

"Oh? What sort of discovery?" Lana asked.

"Well it was a set of caves." Lex replied. "But I don't really know how to describe what's in there. It's sort of something that you need to see first hand."

"Well can you show me?" Lana asked.

"Certainly," Lex replied. "Give me a few minutes to make a few business calls first and then I'll take you out there."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

Well now the plot is thickening. Lex seems well intentioned though. It will be interesting to see what happens won't it. Although it might not turn out as expected. That's the fun of it, to keep you guessing.

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000), irc. (Port 7000), or irc. (Port 6667), then go to channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. And if that doesn't work for you, look for the Smallville Revised Forum in the Smallville section of forums. Look forward to seeing some of you in either place.


	32. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31**

"Wow this is, amazing Lex," Lana commented as she looked at the wall paints in the cave as she shone her flashlight around.

"I know," Lex said. "But you haven't seen the best part yet."

He led Lana over to the carved section of the wall. Lana immediately recognized the octagonal shape. But it made no sense, how was this connected to her? She didn't realize it but her body reaction had given away that it was familiar to her.

"What is it?" she asked Lex.

"I don't know," Lex replied. "But I intend to find out. Apparently these caves used to be very important to the Native Americans of these parts. I'm going to try and see if they can decipher these symbols for me."

"But I thought they didn't have any written language," Lana said.

"Neither did I," Lex agreed. "However somebody must have carved this stone, and either someone has arranged a very elaborate prank, or they at least have some idea as to what did this."

"Well that's good," Lana said. "But I need to get going, I've got stuff to attend to back at the farm."

"Like Clark?" Lex asked.

Lana stopped where she was. Clark was living with her and her parents, but he pulled his own wait and Lex of all people should know that since he was in a partnership agreement with Lex for control of the Talon.

"Lex, what do you mean?" Lana responded with a question of her own.

"I'm just going by what Chloe Sullivan told me," Lex replied.

"Well for someone who wants to be a reporter; Chloe certainly has a difficult time keeping her facts straight about this," Lana said angrily.

"Whoa, I seem to have struck a nerve," Lex said as he feigned being frightened. "I'm not saying that I took everything Chloe told me at face value, but well, she certainly has come through in the past about quite a few things. Besides, it's not like your feelings for Clark are completely unknown to me. I believe we talked about him not that long ago and now that he's moved in with you. Well I can understand why you haven't had much time to visit me."

"Our relationship is not like that," Lana said. "We haven't even been on a date unless you consider mucking out stalls together a date. And as for you I don't know why you're so interested in my relationship with Clark."

"Just seemed to be a topic that was high on Chloe's mind," Lex said. "And I know that you two aren't speaking to each other. I was wondering if I could do anything to help."

"Lex, just stay out of this, I don't want to earn Chloe's enmity anymore than I already have." Lana warned him.

"Lana, there is no possible harm that can come from me trying to help you reconcile with Chloe," Lex said. "I'd be happy to serve as a mediator. But I do need to know just how serious your relationship with Clark is."

"As much as I doubt that anything can help the situation, I'm glad you're at least trying to help," Lana said. "As for my relationship with Clark, well all I know is that we're good friends. There's definitely romantic feelings between both of us, but Clark's living with my family and that just wouldn't be appropriate.

"I understand," Lex said. "Do you need a ride back to the farm?"

"No," Lana replied. "I was going to go jogging later; I might as well get in the exercise now. I'll see you later Lex."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lex met with Chloe in his office.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Chloe asked.

"I think you'll find we've got a lot to talk about Chloe," Lex replied. "But what I think will interest you the most, is the exclusive story I'm willing to let you report."

"What is it?" Chloe asked.

Lex pulled out a brown manila envelope and handed it to Chloe. "My recent construction of an office complex discovered some, unusual cave paintings. The construction has been moved to protect them. I haven't explained my reasons for moving the construction to the public yet, I felt like giving the Torch the exclusive."

"Why the Torch?" Chloe asked. "This seems more like news for a big paper like the Daily Planet."

"Because I know you haven't been having an easy time lately," Lex said. "You lost some of your friends because they're having a relationship and aren't telling you. And you have mentioned your feelings for Clark."

"I'm beginning to think that maybe I was being really selfish," Chloe said.

"No don't say that," Lex said. "That's what makes people successful in life. They want something and they strive to take it. You just need to become more forceful Chloe."

"You right Lex," Chloe said. "But I think this is a lost cause."

"You're probably right," Lex agreed. "They have moved in together and who knows what they're doing."

Chloe began looking through the pictures of the caves. She got to the picture of the carvings in the wall.

"What's this?" Chloe asked.

"I don't know," Lex replied. "But I think Lana Kent does."

"Lana? How do you know?" Chloe inquired.

"I took Lana down earlier to see the caves." Lex replied, "Her body language when she saw that didn't match what she said. I think she knows something."

"You'll have to explain that to me some other time," Chloe said. "Right now I have an article to write."

"If you want a private tour of the caves just let me know," Lex said.

"I'll do that," Chloe agreed as she got up to leave.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Lana returned to the farm she had done a lot of thinking. She didn't know how or why, but somehow those caves were connected to her. She had to tell Clark and her parents. She immediately told them about what she had seen in the caves.

"Are you sure that this is related to the spaceship?" Jonathon asked Lana.

"Look I know what I saw," Lana answered. "Why else would there be an octagonal slot carved into the wall that's the exact size and shape as the one on the spaceship?"

"I gotta agree with her," Clark said. "This is just too coincidental."

"What if it's a trap to lure you out?" Martha asked.

"Nobody knows about the slot on the spaceship besides us and Pete, and Pete hasn't told anybody." Lana replied. "Besides, from what Lex told me the discovery of these caves was a complete fluke. They had been covered by a cave in for a while."

"Lex was about to talk to the Native Americans right?" Clark asked.

Lana nodded, "Yeah, but why?"

"Well he's not exactly the first person that they would want to talk to," Clark said. "It's people Lex's family that have forced them onto reserves and what not."

"But maybe we can talk to them," Lana said catching on to Clark's idea.

"Yeah, and I think we've got a pretty good chance." Clark said. "I just wish we had Chloe to help us out with this."

"That reminds me," Lana said. "Lex offered to try and patch thing's up with Chloe."

"I think Lex has an ulterior motive behind that," Jonathon accused.

"Dad, why do you always shoot down Lex's good intentions?" Lana asked.

"I just don't trust him," Jonathon replied. "I've never seen him do anything that he doesn't stand to benefit from."

"You don't exactly go out of your way to see what he does though," Clark said.

"Let's just drop this argument," Martha said. "We need to find out just what these caves are before Lex does. So let's focus on that."

"She's right," Lana said. "Let's get started trying to figure out who we need to contact."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

Well what is Lex up to this time? It can't possibly be good, since he doesn't seem to be helping with Lana and Chloe's friendship. And what will happen with the caves? Will Lex learn the tales or will Lana and Clark be able to figure it out first? Keep reading to find out.

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000), irc. (Port 7000), or irc. (Port 6667), then go to channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. And if that doesn't work for you, look for the Smallville Revised Forum in the Smallville section of forums. Look forward to seeing some of you in either place.


	33. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32**

At the Kent farm, Lana and Clark were discussing what they had discovered.

"Well we've discovered just who we need to contact," Lana said.

"The chief of the Kowatchi tribe," Clark said. "He's also a professor, Joseph Willowbrook."

"A little more digging revealed that he really doesn't like the Luthor's," Lana said. "So we've probably got a really good chance of talking to him first."

"You'd better hope so," Jonathon said. "The Luthor's are quite willing to stoop to such low levels as blackmail to get what they want."

"Don't worry dad," Lana assured him. "I think we can give him an offer he can't refuse."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clark and Lana were able to track down Joseph Willowbrook who lived in the nearby town of Grandville. They discovered his address, it was a small single floor house on the edge of town. The knocked on the door and were somewhat surprised when a young Native American girl not much older than they were answered.

"Can I help you?" she asked as she opened the screen door.

"Does Joseph Willowbrook live here?" Lana inquired.

"He does," the girl replied. "May I tell him who's here to see him?"

"Uh, I'm Lana Kent and this is my friend Clark, we're here to talk about something we discovered. We heard he might be able to help us." Lana answered.

The girl closed the screen door and went back into the house leaving Lana and Clark standing there waiting. A few moments later she came back and opened the door to let them in. She led them into the living room and offered them a seat. Lana and Clark sat beside each other on the couch. A moment later an elderly Native American man came into the room.

"Hello," he greeted as he came in. "I'm Joseph Willowbrook, you've already met my granddaughter Kyla. So what can I help you with today?"

"Professor Willowbrook we recently discovered some caves that may be of interest to you," Lana said.

"They contain some paintings which we thought may have been done by the Natives of this area." Clark continued. "However they're a lot different than any other cave paintings we have ever seen."

Professor Willowbrook was instantly intrigued, "How are they different?" he asked.

"Well neither of us are exactly experts in the field," Lana replied. "We're just some high school kids going off what we've been able to find in text books. But there was also some writing in there. It was something we have never seen before, hieroglyphs but not."

"As far as we know very few of the Native American languages ever had a written form," Clark said. "So we were wondering if you knew what it said."

"This is assuming I know about these caves that you speak of," Professor Willowbrook said.

"Well, does this sound at all familiar to you?" Lana asked.

"Indeed it does," Professor Willowbrook answered. "And I would much like to see these caves for myself. Tell me, where are they?"

"Well that's the kicker," Clark replied. "They're on land currently owned by Lex Luthor. He's also rather curious about these caves. I suspect that it's just a matter of time before he comes to you looking for answers."

"Well he'll find no answers here," Professor Willowbrook said. "The Luthor's are not people that I wish to have any association with. Perhaps tomorrow you can take me to these caves and when I have seen them I shall tell you all that I know."

"Okay," Lana said. "Um, we both live on a farm just outside of Smallville. The sign says 'Kent Farm'. We should be there most of the day. I think Clark has to work in town in the evening but if you stop by during the day we'll have plenty of time."

"Very well," Professor Willowbrook said standing up and shaking their hands. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following morning Lana and Clark were up in the loft sitting and waiting; they had finished their chores as fast as possible so as to not have to worry about when Professor Willowbrook arrived.

"You know I wonder what this will tell us," Lana said.

"It's probably just going to be about your past," Clark replied. "Although I probably have a similar story in my reality."

Lana had grown used to Clark and who he was, as Clark probably had as well. The topic of the alternate reality didn't really come up very often. For it to have come up meant that something must be bothering him.

"Clark what's wrong?" Lana asked.

"It's just kind of depressing," Clark replied. "I don't really know who I am and I'm not finding out."

"But you yourself have mentioned how things are similar in your reality," Lana said. "I'm sure that this is similar as well."

"I'm sure you're right." Clark said with a smile.

Just then an old brown car turned off the road and came up the Kent driveway.

"Well, looks like he's here," Lana said. "Let's go do this."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana and Clark led, Professor Willowbrook and his granddaughter, who he had brought along, through the caves to the paintings.

"These are the paintings of my ancestors," Professor Willowbrook said after only a few moments of studying them.

"Well what do they say or describe?" Lana asked anxiously.

"This is the legend of Naman," Willowbrook said pointing his flashlight at a particular painting. "It was prophesized that a child would fall to the sky in a rain of fire. Naman would have the strength of ten men and be able to create fire with her eyes and that one day she shall protect the whole world."

"What's that one?" Clark asked pointing to an unusual coupling.

"It was foretold that the one whom Naman loves shall emerge from the body of a normal man," Willowbrook said.

Lana and Clark looked at each other.

"And this one is interesting," Willowbrook said moving his flashlight to a painting that looked like some of serpent creature. "This is Seget. He's supposed to be like a brother to Naman, but one day he turns against Naman and they become the balance between good an evil."

The prospect of protecting the world from evil and having someone turn against her wasn't exactly a very likable prospect on Lana's list at the moment. She hoped that wouldn't happen until later on. Instead she focused her attention on the wall with all the carvings.

"What about this?" Lana asked.

"I know little about this," Willowbrook admitted. "It was foretold that Naman would be able to understand these symbols."

Clark quietly took Lana aside, "Now I can't understand these symbols he whispered, and I'm pretty sure that you can't either. But everything else here seems way too accurate to be just a mere coincidence." Clark whispered

"I know," Lana agreed. "What do you think we should do?"

"The key," Clark suggested. "It had writing on it that matched the writing on the wall."

"And the thing from the spaceship," Lana whispered. "That also had similar writing on it."

"What do you think?" Clark asked.

"I don't know where the key is," Lana replied. "I've never seen it."

"Well then I think that's the first thing we need to do," Clark said. "Find that key."

"But it could be anywhere," Lana said.

"Yeah but I've got a good idea as to who has it," Clark said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In his mansion, late at night, Lex Luthor sat at his desk. An unusual paper weight sat on top of the files and reports he still had to look over. However, Lex was not interested in them at the moment. His interest fell on the octagonal paper weight. Back several months ago a man had been in an accident and had reported a spaceship that seemed to have been abandoned in a cornfield. When Lex's people reached the area the ship was gone but there were signs that it had been taken. By whom Lex didn't know, it could have been the government, it could have been a farmer, or it could have been the owner of the spaceship looking take back what was theirs. However, one thing that his people did find was an octagonal piece of metal. It was most likely from the ship since it was an alloy that had never before been seen on earth, except for one thing; the meteor rocks. There was also some unique writing on it, similar that recently discovered in the cave.

_Perhaps Roger Nixon wasn't as crazy as I thought he was_, Lex thought to himself. _Although I still don't think that Lana Kent is an alien_.

Lex continued looking at the little metal disk and then his mind thought about the caves, more specifically the one wall with unusual carvings on it; especially the octagonal shaped carving. Perhaps this metal disk had something to do with that. However it was getting late. He would get around to it when it was more convenient to do so.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

Lex is getting close to discovering the secret. Will he discover it or will Lana and Clark be able to get the key in time? Keep reading, you never know when a new twist will emerge.

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000), irc. (Port 7000), or irc. (Port 6667), then go to channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. And if that doesn't work for you, look for the Smallville Revised Forum. I hope to see you in one of the two places.


	34. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33**

Back at the Kent farm that night, Lana and Clark were discussing what to do.

"How do you know that Lex has the key?" Lana asked.

"I don't," Clark replied. "But I do know that he was very interested in the spaceship and fortunately for us he found after it was already safely removed. But the key is needed to activate it so it must have fallen out nearby. My guess is that Lex or his people discovered it when they went to check the place out."

"What if he didn't find it?" Lana asked.

"Well we can always check that out." Clark replied. "But we should go with the worst case scenario first."

"Good thinking," Lana agreed. "How do you propose we get it from Lex?"

"Let's check out the mansion late tonight." Clark said. "We can get in and out without being detected."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Outside the Luthor Mansion two guards were standing watch.

"Did you hear something?" one of them asked the other.

"Nah, must have been the wind," he replied.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Where do you think Lex would keep it?" Lana asked as they snuck into the house.

"Probably in his office, if he even has it here," Clark replied. "We should try using X-ray vision. Any lead containers or what not are potential targets. And of course the disk itself may be visible."

"Alright I'll check the ground floor you check upstairs," Lana suggested.

They began scanning the house with their X-ray vision.

"I found it," Lana said after only a very short time.

"Where is it?" Clark asked.

Lana shot of and came back less than a second later, the disk in hand. "Right here," she replied.

"Thank god," Clark said breathing a sigh of relief. "Let's go find out what this thing does."

"What about my mom and dad?" Lana asked.

"We've got to do this," Clark said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Down in the caves, Lana was standing in front of the wall, holding the key and debating whether or not she should slide it into the slot. Clark was standing nearby in case somebody came. There were three sets of symbols on the disk and Lana tried to line them up and match them if she could with the other symbols on the wall. Suddenly the disk was pulled out of Lana's hand and it stuck into the slot on the wall. She looked over at Clark who was looking back at her. When she looked back the three symbols on the disk were glowing, the top one was red, the left symbol was yellow and the right symbol was blue. The carved symbols of the wall then began to glow around their edges and the inner most ring began to rotate. The middle ring and the outer ring then began rotating in opposite directions. Lana reflexively began to back away from the wall. Then the middle of the disk opened up to form a diamond shape. Lana stared at it, trying to see if there was something inside it. Clark came over to stand beside her and see as well. Suddenly a flash of light came from the key and then two beams of light came pulsing out. They hit both Lana and Clark in the chest and lifted them up into the air.

Lana felt and invisible breeze blowing her hair back as she was shaking as hung there in the air. She managed to move her head slightly to see Clark doing the same. Lana began to feel strange not sure what was happening and suddenly she blacked out.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Lana?" someone said.

Lana rolled over from her spot on the ground to see who it was. She groggily rubbed her eyes and saw Chloe standing in front of her.

"Chloe, what are you doing here?" Lana asked.

"I was about to ask you the same question," Chloe replied. "But then I saw him."

Lana looked to where Chloe was looking and saw Clark lying on the ground about three feet away.

"Chloe this is not what it looks like," Lana said. "Believe me."

Clark was slowly awakening himself.

"Ugh, I feel like I got hit by a train," Clark muttered to himself.

As he picked himself up he noticed Chloe standing in front of him.

"Chloe, uh, what are you doing here?" Clark asked.

"Unlike some people I'm here to do research," Chloe replied.

"Chloe, I, look this isn't what it seems." Clark said.

"Why do you keep denying?" Chloe demanded. "Are you trying to give me some faint glimmer of hope? Or are you just doing it for your own malicious amusement?"

Clark sighed. "Fine Chloe, if it'll make you happy, Lana and I were out here having wild passionate sex all night. We did here because we didn't want to get caught by her parents," Clark lied.

Chloe glared at him angrily. "Get out of here before I call Lex Luthor and have him remove you," Chloe said coldly.

Lana quickly scanned for the key, but she couldn't see it. Clark helped her up off the ground and they quickly left the cave and headed back to the farm.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clark and Lana were trying to quietly sneak into the house, hoping that Jonathon and Martha weren't up yet.

"And just what were you two up to all night?" Jonathon asked as soon as they opened the door.

"Dad we were doing something very important," Lana said. "We found the key and then put the key in the slot in the cave."

"And what happened?" Martha asked.

"There was a flash of energy and we blacked out. Next thing we knew Chloe was waking us up," Clark replied.

"Chloe?" Jonathon asked.

"What is she doing around there?" Martha inquired.

"I don't know," Lana answered. "But she threatened to have Lex throw us out of the caves. My guess is that she's helping Lex research them."

"I never thought I'd see the day when Chloe Sullivan is helping Lex Luthor with one of his notorious schemes," Jonathon muttered.

"To make matters worse she thought we were there, you know." Clark added.

"Yeah well then you went out and told her that we were," Lana stated in a condescending tone.

"It's better than telling her what we actually were doing," Clark countered.

"Well what happened to the key?" Jonathon asked.

"We don't know," Clark replied.

"When we woke up, we couldn't see. We're hoping it disintegrated or something," Lana said.

"Well you'd better hope so," Martha said. "If that key falls into the wrong hands."

"Mom, we took the key away from Lex earlier tonight. It's already been in the wrong hands," Lana said.

"You broke into the Luthor mansion?" Jonathon asked.

"Well, we had to get the key." Lana answered.

"Well as long as Lex doesn't trace it back to you," Martha said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Down in the caves Chloe was busy taking pictures of the area for her own personal use. She was especially interested in the wall with all the carvings. As she was getting closer to examine it better her foot hit something. Looking down she saw an odd rock, she bent down and picked it up. It was a transparent crystal that seemed to glow ever so slightly. It looked as if it were part of a larger rock and that it had been purposely cut off. She stuck the rock in her pocket, Lex would want to see this. She snapped off a few more pictures before she left the caves.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

Whoa, whoa, whoa. One of those rocks already? Well now that's interesting isn't it? And now Chloe is working for Lex. Well she did work for Lionel so I guess it isn't that unusual. Kind of makes you wonder just what's going to happen though. Because right now it just seems like Chloe is about to help Lex discover the secret, and if that happens, who knows what terror may be fall Smallville.

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000), irc. (Port 7000), or irc. (Port 6667), then go to channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. And if that doesn't work for you, look for the Smallville Revised Forum. I hope to see you in one of the two places.


	35. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34**

"You know I had thought," Lana said.

She and Clark were sitting in the living room doing homework.

"What's that?" Clark asked.

"I don't think the key was destroyed," Lana replied. "I mean, it managed to survive space and crashing to earth, I don't think whatever happened down there destroyed it."

"What if Chloe found it?" Clark asked.

"That means it might have ended up back with Lex," Lana said as she got a bit worried.

"We've got to go find check those caves again," Clark said. "We can't let that key fall into the wrong hands."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clark and Lana arrived back in the caves. They began frantically searching for the key.

"What's this?" Clark asked picking up a piece of crystal.

"I don't know," Lana replied. "Hang on to it though."

Clark stuffed the rock into a pocket and continued searching. Suddenly Lana stumbled across something stuck in the wall.

"I think I found it," Lana said.

She grabbed the object and pulled it out of the wall. Sure enough it was the key.

"How did it get in there?" Clark wondered.

"I don't know," Lana replied. "But that's the least of out worries at the moment. Let's get out of here before somebody catches us."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lex Luthor was summoned to the caves.

"What happened?" Lex asked.

"Apparently there was a break in Mister Luthor," the security head replied. "Our motion detectors picked up two objects entering the caves and two objects leaving."

"Well why weren't they caught?" Lex inquired.

"Well that's just it sir. They weren't moving at normal speeds. They were too fast to even be seen by the guards on duty." The security head answered.

"Well has anything happened?" Lex queried.

"As far as we can tell Mister Luthor nothing happened in there." He replied.

"Keep me informed," Lex said. "Let me know if anything is awry."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I thought I'd find you down here," Clark said as he descended the steps into the Kent family storm cellar.

Lana was there just staring at the spaceship, her back to Clark. She didn't even turn to acknowledge his presence.

"Ever since my father told me about this ship, I wondered if there were others out there like me," Lana said. "Thanks to a freak accident I'm not."

"Well I'm glad you think of me as an accident," Clark said as he turned to leave.

"No, Clark I'm sorry," Lana quickly apologized. "I didn't mean it like that. But not all accidents are bad. You're the best accident that's ever happened to me."

"Well I'm glad you feel that way," Clark said. "Come on your mother said that dinner is ready."

"In a minute," Lana said.

Clark shrugged and turned to leave once again.

"I've figured out what this is," Lana stated.

Clark looked to see what she was holding. It was the odd device that he had been shown back in his own reality the day that he learned he was an alien.

"It's the ships heart," Lana explained.

"Really?" Clark asked, although he realized that it made sense. "Have you used it yet?"

"I didn't want to do it alone," Lana admitted.

"Well let's do it together." Clark suggested.

Lana handed Clark the device from the spaceship and then reached into her pocket and pulled out the key. Slowly she stepped toward the ship, cautiously; a bit afraid of what may happen. She placed the key into the slot. It merged with the rest of the ship becoming seamless. The ship rose up a foot of the ground, a series of lights around its edges lit up. The ship opened up revealing a spot that was barely big enough to hold a toddler.

"It's hard to imagine that we were ever that small," Clark joked.

Lana took the device from Clark and held it in her hands for a few moments. Then she thrust it into a slot inside the ship, into which it appeared to have been removed from. The area of the ship where Lana would have sat lit up with messages in the strange symbol language. They swirled around in opposite directions.

"I can read this," Lana said. "But I must be reading it wrong."

"I can read it too," Clark muttered. "What does it say for you?"

"On this third planet from this star, so you shall be a god amongst men. They are a flawed race rule them with strength, that is where your greatness lies." Lana read aloud trailing off at the end.

Lana walked away from the spaceship completely in shock, "I think I was sent here to conquer," she said. "What kind of planet am I from?"

"Maybe we are misreading it," Clark said.

"How?" Lana asked. "You read the exact same thing."

"Even if it is right it's not true." Clark replied. "It's you that decides what kind of a life you want to live. Not me, not your parents, not your biological parents. You get to decide."

"What if it's a part of who I am?" Lana asked. "Is that the kind of person I will become?"

"Lana you're here to do what you think is right." Clark replied. "I know you; you're not a conqueror or tyrant. That message is clearly wrong."

"How can you be so sure?" Lana demanded to know.

"Because I love you Lana," Clark said putting his hands on her shoulders and looking into her eyes.

Lana stared back into Clarks green eyes. He was probably lying just to make her feel better. She didn't care though; it did make her feel better. Next thing that she knew she was hugging Clark as tight as she could.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back at the Luthor Mansion, Lex was meeting with Chloe Sullivan in his office.

"So what have you managed to uncover?" Lex asked her.

"Well I haven't been able to learn anything about the caves origins or all that much about the paintings. For some reason the Kowatchi chief refused to speak to me." Chloe replied.

"Well I'll see what I can do about making him talk," Lex assured her.

"Anyway, I did find this," Chloe said showing him the crystal she had discovered.

"What is it?" Lex asked.

"I'm not sure," Chloe answered. "But I do know that its composition appears to be very similar to that found in meteor rocks. Which means that it's likely alien in origin."

"May I see it?" Lex asked politely.

Chloe seemed reluctant but she handed the stone over to Lex.

"It seems to have a mark engraved in it," Lex commented.

"Yes," Chloe agreed. "It matches one of the symbols carved in the caves. It also seems to be a part of a large crystal. We need to find the other pieces."

"I agree," Lex said. "I'll begin having teams scour the caves for more of these rocks in the morning."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

Now I know what some of you are thinking. These rocks are stupid. Well they do let Clark build the fortress of solitude in the show, so they're not all that bad. Besides it's not like it has a lame storyline involving a witch and the Teague's to go with them in this story. It's more of a plot device than anything, don't worry they won't come into play for quite a while anyway.

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000), irc. (Port 7000), or irc. (Port 6667), then go to channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. And if that doesn't work for you, look for the Smallville Revised Forum. I hope to see you in one of the two places.


	36. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35**

Lana was sitting up in her loft, staring off into the night sky. Life had been rather odd lately, Lionel Luthor had come back to Smallville for some reason and Lex was none to thrilled about it. Her friendship with Chloe had reached an all time low after Chloe decided to write an attack article in the Torch. The farm was finally out of debt thanks to the extra help that Clark provided with his income from the Talon and his help around the farm, in fact Lana had gotten a job working part time at the Talon and that had helped out as well. Lana and Clark had found it more and more difficult to study the caves since Lex seemed to have people in there all the time. Lana's friendship with Lex also had hit a minor roadblock since Lex seemed to be less available to talk these days.

"Are you alright?" Clark asked as he came up into the loft.

"I'm fine," Lana replied.

"No you're not," Clark said. "I can tell."

"What are you psychic?" Lana joked.

"Maybe," Clark answered. "Come on, you can tell me what's wrong."

"It's what my biological father said," Lana replied. "I think he's going to try and control my destiny."

"Your destiny is far greater than any of these people," Clark said. "You must let go of the past, I will guide you to your future."

Lana stared at Clark in horror. He tried to advance on her but she slapped him. Clark then fell forward onto the floor.

"Clark? Wake up Clark," Lana said as she jumped up to help him.

After a moment Clark suddenly sat bolt upright. "What happened?" he asked.

"What do you remember?" Lana asked.

"Last thing I remember was that I was down in the storm cellar and the ship began to glow and I heard the voice of someone named Jor-El, I think he's your father. And then I woke up just now." Clark answered.

Lana stood up and looked out across the field towards the storm cellar. There was a light glow up through the doors.

"Stay here," Lana said. "There's something I have to do."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana descended the steps into the storm cellar. As she guessed the light was coming from the ship. However, she was unprepared for the voice that suddenly came from the ship.

"Fear not, Sara," the voice said.

"Who are you?" Lana yelled over the humming of the ship. "And why are you calling me Sara?"

"I am Jor-El, your father," the ship replied.

"I thought you died," Lana said.

"I am his mind, his will. I am to fulfill his promise and guide you all the days of your life. You are the last child of Krypton." The ship explained.

It began to collapse in on itself so that only the egg shaped capsule remained.

"When you travelled through the cosmos you carried the last hopes and dreams of your people with you. They now live through you Sara," the ship said. "It is time."

The capsule then changed shape into a globe of the Earth suspended in the air.

"Time for what?" Lana asked.

"Time to accept your destiny," the ship replied.

"I don't know what you have in mind for me," Lana said stubbornly. "But…"

"At the setting of the sun, so you will return to me." The ship interrupted as the globe grew dark as if the sun had set. "Your destiny will be fulfilled."

The ship changed back into the glowing yellow egg shaped capsule. Lana didn't want to hear anymore of this, she just wanted to get out of here. She turned around but saw her parents and Clark standing in front of her. But something seemed wrong.

"Your thoughts are not a mystery to me," the ship said. "But these people have served their purpose. It is time to leave them."

Lana reached out to touch Clark who was just standing there smiling at her. But as she did he began to break apart as if he were made of dust. Behind him Jonathon and Martha also vanished into dust. Lana realized that it was just an image created by the ship and she whirled about to look at it again.

"Please," she pleaded. "Everything and everyone I've ever loved is here, in Smallville."

"You must let go of your past," ship said uncaringly. "I will guide you, to your future."

"No I don't want your guidance," Lana yelled at the ship. "I want to create my own future."

"You have no choice," the ship said simply.

It then began to glow brighter and spin rapidly. Lana found that she couldn't do anything. Suddenly the ship just exploded. Creating a light so bright that Lana couldn't see, it lasted long after it should have and the just as suddenly as it had happened, it went out. Lana looked around. The ship was back where it had been and the storm cellar looked as if nothing had happened.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clark had assumed that Lana had gone to bed the previous night after she had left the loft. He had no idea what had happened down in the storm cellar. So he was rather surprised when he went out the loft to get his jacket, which he had left there last night, and found Lana sitting there staring at the floor boards.

"You're up early," Clark commented.

"I never went to sleep," Lana said not looking up at him.

"Is something wrong?" Clark asked.

"I sort of met my biological father last night," Lana replied.

"I think you should tell this one to your parents too," Clark suggested.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana led everyone down into the storm cellar, explaining what had happened as she went, "When I heard his voice, it was coming from the ship." Lana said. "But it sounded like it was in my own head. It said it was time."

"It said it was time for what?" Jonathon asked.

"To leave Smallville and fulfill my destiny," Lana replied.

"He said that?" Martha asked worried.

"I have until sun down today," Lana replied.

"Or what?" Clark asked as he squatted down to look at the ship.

"I'm not sure," Lana replied. "It said I didn't have a choice. Why is it happening now, right before the end of the school year at such an in opportune time?"

"What ever your biological father may have had in mind for you, they're his hopes and dreams, not yours." Martha said.

"Lana, you chose your own destiny." Jonathon stated, "Nobody can choose that for you. Not me, not your mother, not your biological father."

Lana looked from the ship, to Clark, to her father and then to her mother.

"This is my home," Lana declared. "And you're my family. It's where I belong and I'm not going anywhere."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clark and Lana were up in the loft once again. It had become their 'place' to get away from the rest of the world and to be alone together. They were sitting on the couch just holding each other intimately.

"Are you okay?" Clark asked softly.

"Yeah I'm great," Lana replied.

"You know, I can always tell when you're being less than truthful," Clark said.

"It just that, I've waited to have a normal life like this for so long," Lana admitted. "And it's perfect. I don't want it to go away."

"Neither of us is going anywhere," Clark said.

Lana found herself leaning up towards Clark's mouth, and he found himself leaning down toward her. Before they knew it they were embraced in a passionate kiss. They were then rudely interrupted by Pete's laughter.

"Ain't this a Kodak® moment Pete chuckled.

Both Clark and Lana got off each other in hurried embarrassment.

"Pete what are you doing here?" Lana asked.

"I just thought you'd like to know that Lionel Luthor has managed to gain custodial ownership of the caves." Pete replied. "He's up to something."

"I gotta find out what Lionel is up to," Lana said.

"I'll go with you," Clark declared as she stood.

Lana pushed him back down onto the couch. "No, I'll go alone. We don't want to risk both of us getting caught."

"I dunno what he's doing," Pete said. "But he's been moving in a lot of high tech looking machinery."

"I think I've got a pretty good idea," Lana replied as she grabbed her jacket.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

But just what is Lionel doing in those caves. It can't be the octagonal slot he's obsessing about. Or is it? Well there's only one way to figure that out. Read on. Oh, and check out the forums.

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000), irc. (Port 7000), or irc. (Port 6667), then go to channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. And if that doesn't work for you, look for the Smallville Revised Forum. I hope to see you in one of the two places.


	37. Chapter 36

**Chapter 36**

Lana looked around the caves. All about there was scaffolding to hold lighting and various monitors and computers, but the most interesting piece of equipment was a large machine that was set up in front of the octagonal slot in the wall. Lana went to examine it closely when suddenly the lights behind her turned on. Lana spun about surprised.

"I'm going to have to put a stop to these unauthorized visits," Lionel Luthor said as he came around the corner.

"Mister Luthor," Lana stammered.

"What are you doing here?" Lionel asked.

"I was just curious," Lana replied.

"I'd suppose so," Lionel agreed with a chuckle that sent shivers down Lana's spine.

"I know you've studied these caves quite extensively Lana," Lionel said. "I'm sure that there are some insights that you can provide me. It would be extremely helpful."

"I don't know anything," Lana lied. "What's with all the machinery?"

"I'm going to unlock the secrets, hidden in these walls," Lionel replied.

"How are you going to do that?" Lana asked.

"I have something nobody else has," Lionel replied, "the key. Once I insert the key into that slot, I'm convinced the answers will be revealed to me."

"What key?" Lana asked.

"Well my son Lex, recently stole an octagonal disk from me," Lionel replied. "However before he did my researchers discovered something unusual about its composition. It was unlike any material found on earth, save one."

Lionel turned around to a metal box and opened it up, "So, I have fashioned my own key."

He showed the key to Lana, "It's identical, in every detail," Lionel said proudly.

It was indeed identical with one exception, this key made Lana feel ill. She backed away from the key.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Lionel asked.

Lionel noticed Lana was starting to look a little ill.

"Lana you don't look well, are you alright?" Lionel asked.

"I'm fine," Lana replied walking back a bit and feeling a bit better. "But you should be careful."

"Lionel Luthor has never gotten anywhere in life by playing it safe," Lionel said smugly.

He closed the box and set it back on the stand it had previously been sitting on.

"I should go," Lana said as she hurriedly made her way out of the caves.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana was standing up in the loft, looking out across the fields watching the sun set. She hoped that this would not be the last sun set she would see in Smallville.

"I figured this is where I'd find you," Jonathon Kent said as he came up the stairs behind his daughter.

"Just watching the sun set," Lana said. "I hope it's not the last one I see from up here."

"It won't be Lana," her father assured her. "Sweetie, it's just another sun down."

As the both watched the sun slowly began to sink below the horizon in a beautiful array of yellows, reds, oranges and magentas. As the sun finally disappeared for the day Jonathon turned to head down out of the loft.

"Come on," he said. "Your mother's got dinner ready."

"I'll be there in a minute," Lana said as she continued to stare out across the fields at the few remaining rays of light that shot up over the horizon.

"Dad," Lana called out.

Her father stopped and turned to look back at his daughter.

"Thanks for always believing in me," Lana said.

"You're welcome," Jonathon replied.

Lana stood there in the loft watching her father leave.

"It is time Sara," a voice said in her head.

Lana whirled around. The ship was still trying to control her destiny.

"Come to me," the voice said once again.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana descended the steps down into the storm cellar. In her mind she was determined not to do whatever her biological father wanted her to do. When she reached the bottom of the stair the ship was hovering with a series of lights around the edges glowing, but it was not giving off much light.

"You will obey me Sara," the ship said.

"You're not my father," Lana stated stubbornly. "I won't let you control me."

The ship turned to point its nose towards her. It began to glow brighter and then it gave off a pulse of energy. Lana was flung roughly up against the corner of the storm cellar ceiling and found herself pinned there. Lana felt a searing pain on her chest. She tore open her shirt to see a mark being burned onto it.

"This is the mark of you ancestors," the ship explained. "You cannot fight it. At the zenith of the star Sol you will begin your journey."

The ship settled back down to the ground and Lana fell from her spot pinned up against the ceiling.

"If you do not, you will hurt the ones you love the most," the ship warned.

Lana was breathing heavily as she stared at the ship, trying to contemplate just what its warning meant. She also looked at the mark that was burned into her chest. It was a figure eight inside the side profile of a diamond. She groaned and lay on her back for a while wondering just what she was going to do.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning Lana was standing out leaning up against the edge of the loft, just watching cars travel up and down the road and imaging where they were going. Clark was at work at the Talon and her parents had also gone off to town. Lana had called Pete and asked him to come over, she didn't know who else to confide her troubles with, or discuss her plan.

"Hey you wanted to talk to me?" Pete asked.

"Yeah," Lana said.

Lana explained everything that had happened last night, about her biological father and his desire to have her leave Smallville and how she had no choice to obey him. Lana then showed Pete part of the mark to prove that it had all happened as she had explained.

"Does it hurt?" Pete asked.

"No, not now," Lana replied.

"You got any idea what it means?" Pete inquired.

"It's my biological father's way of telling me that I have to do what he wants," Lana said angrily. "I'm afraid by noon, it'll control me."

"Your parents and Clark must be freaked out," Pete said.

"I haven't told them," Lana admitted.

"Why wouldn't you tell them Lana?" Pete asked.

"Because Pete, I know what I have to do," Lana answered. "But they'll never agree with me in a million years. I have to destroy the ship."

"What? Lana no, this thing travelled millions of miles through space, I don't think we can dent it, much less destroy it." Pete argued.

"What if we had a Kryptonite key?" Lana queried.

"Lana this is whacked." Pete said.

"Pete, you know how Kryptonite makes me sick? Well maybe it has a similar effect on the ship. Think about it Pete, I'm from Krypton and so is this ship, and what's the one thing that can kill me?" Lana asked.

"So you're thinkin' that Kryptonite can destroy the ship?" Pete inquired.

Lana responded only by staring back at Pete.

"Lana it's too dangerous," Pete said. "Do you hear me? You've never done this before you don't know what will happen. It could kill you. Besides, where are we gonna get a kryptonite key?"

"Now that, I do know," Lana replied with a smirk on her face.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

Well looks like the ship is going to go bye-bye. But just what will happen after the ship explodes? Will Lana run off to metropolis like Clark did? Or will it be something different? And what other situations might occur? The only way to find out the answer to all these questions is to keep reading. And check out the forums.

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000), irc. (Port 7000), or irc. (Port 6667), then go to channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. And if that doesn't work for you, look for the Smallville Revised Forum. I hope to see you in one of the two places.


	38. Chapter 37

**Chapter 37**

Lionel Luthor was down in the caves, watching as his scientist prepared the equipment for the test. Hopefully the key he had fashioned would help him discover all the mysteries of this cave.

"How much longer now?" Lionel asked a blonde female scientist.

"Another ten minutes," she replied.

"Another ten minutes," Lionel repeated slightly annoyed as he set the box containing the Kryptonite key down on a stand.

"Hey, Luthor, I got something to say to you!" someone yelled.

Lionel turned around to see someone he didn't recognize pushing his way into the caves. It was some black high school boy. He had no time for this.

"Security, get him out of here," Lionel ordered.

The security tried to drag the boy away.

"These guys don't let me go I'm gonna lay a lawsuit on you so fast that it'll make your head spin," the boy threatened.

"Alright, alright I'll talk to him," Lionel said motioning for the security to let go the boy. "Do I know you?"

"The name's Pete Ross," Pete replied.

"Ross, Ross, Ross, Ross," Lionel repeated the name several times but couldn't come up with a plausible connection.

"As in Ross Cream Corn," Pete stated angrily. "You stole my family's business."

"Yes, I over paid for that ramshackle old factory," Lionel recalled.

"Nobody in this town likes you," Pete said trying to grab Lionel but the security pulled him away; Pete turned to the security personnel on his right. "Don't touch me, you know you hate him."

"I know that, but I value their hatred. I find it very useful. You see, people are always at their weakest when they're angry," Lionel explained. "Ask your father."

Pete looked past Lionel and saw the box holding the key vanish in the blink of an eye. "I'll do that," Pete said.

"Get him out," Lionel ordered the security once more.

The security began to escort Pete out of the caves. Lionel turned to go back to the key but it wasn't where he had just left it a moment ago.

"No, no, no." Lionel muttered, the muttered turned into a roar of anger, "NO!"

Lionel turned around and pointed a finger accusingly at Pete, "You; search him, search him," Lionel ordered desperately.

The security personnel began searching Pete's jacket but they weren't going to find anything and didn't.

"Search me, what are you doing?" Pete asked annoyed.

"Where is it?" Lionel demanded.

"Where is what?" Pete inquired.

Lionel motioned to smack Pete across the face with a backhand. Pete flinched to block but Lionel regained his composure realizing that if he did strike this boy he really would have a lawsuit on his hands.

"Be careful Mister Luthor," Pete warned. "You wouldn't wanna look weak."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana descended the steps into the storm cellar. The space ship lay dormant in the darkness at the far end of the storm cellar. Lana got as close as she could to the ship. She'd need to do this quick, to not get herself killed. She took a deep breath and prepared herself for what she knew she had to do. She crushed the box in half and was immediately sickened as she was met with the green glow the kryptonite key. She fell to her knees and struggled to slide the key into the slot. As soon as it was in the ship immediately began to rust all over. Lana back away weakly as she watched the rust begin to take over the ship.

The ship raised up off the ground and shuddered as if were trying to shake what was attacking it away but to know avail. It began to glow for the inside and Lana looked about worried, not sure what was about to happen. Suddenly the ship just collapsed in on itself in an instant taking the kryptonite key with it, and Lana began to feel better. The roof of the storm cellar caved in a bit. There was a sudden burst of energy and the entire storm cellar was destroyed by an explosion of pure force that literally blew open the storm cellar so it was just a hole in the ground. A massive wave of energy was released.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Martha and Jonathon Kent were returning from town. As they were driving the shockwave of energy came silently towards their truck as the reached the driveway. Martha screamed as they ran into it. Jonathon lost control of the truck and spun sideways he swerved to avoid the telephone pole. The truck rolled into a drainage ditch and did two more barrel rolls before it came to a rest on its roof.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Down in the storm cellar Lana lay on the ground covered by debris but uninjured. She slowly shoved the heavier boards off of herself and got to her feet and surveyed what she had done. Her clothes were ruined and covered with dirt that had been blasted into them. She tried to run up the steps out of the remains of storm cellar but tripped near the top, still feeling the effect of the blast. She noticed her parents' truck resting on its roof near the driveway. Lana realized what she had done and sped off at super speed to help.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the hospital, Lana was changed and dressed. Her father was fine and Lana found him waiting outside a room where her mother was being examined.

"How is she?" Lana asked.

"The doctors don't know yet," Jonathon replied. "What did you do Lana?"

Lana stared at her father, unsure if she wanted to tell him the truth. But she decided that she must since sooner or later the truth would come out. "I stole Lionel's kryptonite key," Lana answered. "I put it in the ship."

"And why did you do that?" Jonathon Kent inquired.

"Dad I haven't been telling you everything," Lana admitted. "My father told that I had to leave by noon today. I didn't have a choice dad. I had to destroy the ship."

"And why didn't you tell us?" Jonathon asked as he was choking back tears.

Lana wasn't sure what her father was so upset about. Her mother looked like she would be fine, "I knew you wouldn't agree with what I did," Lana responded. "Dad I didn't want him to take me away from you. I'm so sorry for what I did."

"You actions have consequences Lana," Jonathon told her. "Didn't your mother and I ever teach you that?"

"Yes," Lana replied. "But…"

"There's no time left for excuses Lana," Jonathon cut her off. "It's too late. You didn't think this thing through. You had no idea what was going to happen and now, now your mother is lying in a hospital bed."

Jonathon stared angrily into his daughter's eyes. She tried to avert her eyes from his gaze by staring at his right shoulder. Behind them the door to the hospital room open and the doctor examining Martha stepped out.

"Mr Kent?" she interrupted.

Jonathon turned around and took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Doctor how is my wife?" he asked.

"She has a mild concussion, but she'll be fine." The doctor replied.

"And how is our baby?" Jonathon inquired.

Lana was in complete shock. She had no idea that her mother had been pregnant. She thought that her mother was incapable of having children. Lana wondered why they had kept this secret from her.

"I'm sorry," the doctor apologized before she hurried off to see her next patient.

Jonathon stood there in stunned silence. Lana wanted to comfort him but she was also angry. They had been keeping secrets from her as well. Still, she felt she had to say something.

"Dad," Lana tried to get his attention.

But Jonathon ignored his daughter. He was too angry with her at the moment, he went into the hospital room closing the door behind him shutting Lana out both physically and emotionally. Feeling unwanted Lana went back to the farm.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clark found Lana standing in the ruins of the Kent's storm cellar.

"Lana what happened?" Clark asked. "It looks like a bomb went off."

He descended the steps into the remains of the storm cellar.

"Where are your parents?" Clark inquired.

"Hospital," Lana replied unable to complete complex sentences. "They're fine. My mom lost the baby."

"The baby?" Clark asked.

"I didn't know she was pregnant," Lana said. "This is all my fault Clark, I did this."

Clark looked around at the remains of the storm cellar.

"How could you do this?" Clark asked.

"With my own selfishness," Lana replied. "I destroyed the ship."

"Why?" Clark asked.

"Because I had to," Lana answered. "If I wanted to stay here. But now I've gone and screwed up everything."

Lana staggered about the ruins with a stunned look on her face. Her eyes were wide and seldom blinking. Clark grabbed her by the shoulders and tried to calm her down.

"Lana it's okay. We can get through this." Clark said.

"He said that if I didn't leave I'd hurt the ones I love the most." Lana said ignoring him. "He was right."

"Who did?" Clark asked.

Lana didn't respond but just stood there, staring at the edge of the storm cellar's remains.

"Lana you're in shock," Clark stated.

"No stay away from me." Lana said stepping away from Clark. "You stay away from me before I hurt you too."

"Lana, you can't hurt me," Clark said.

"But I can," Lana said.

She ascended the steps out of the storm cellar leaving Clark standing there in confusion. Clark moved to go after her but she took off at super speed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

The ship blew up and somehow Martha was pregnant, how that happened will surely be explained. But what lies in the future for Lana? Will she leave Smallville or will Clark be able to stop her? And lets not forget our good friends Lionel and Lex, they've still got their part to play in all of this. Well that's certainly a cliff hanger to leave this on, but I don't think I'll leave you to stew for long. Also, I created a new C2 for Lana fans, to counter all those Lana bashers. I've picked a few of my favourite stories to go in there along with this one. Check them out too, but keep on reading this as well.

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000), irc. (Port 7000), or irc. (Port 6667), then go to channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. And if that doesn't work for you, look for the Smallville Revised Forum. I hope to see you in one of the two places. And check out the C2, Lana Fans Unite, for stories that are based around Clark's girl next door.


	39. Chapter 38

**Chapter 38**

Lana returned to the hospital. Her parents were still in the hospital room. Lana watched through the blinds as her father consoled her mother who was sobbing almost uncontrollably. Lana felt awful, she knew how much her mother had wanted to have a child of her own and now she had gone and careless cost her mother the baby. As Lana watched her parents hug she placed a hand on the window. She wanted so badly to go in there and apologize, but she knew how her father felt. He was furious, and her mother was probably even more upset. Jor-El was right, by not leaving she had hurt the ones she loved the most.

_I'm not going to hurt them anymore_, Lana decided. _I'm going leave Smallville_.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pete arrived at the Torch office and found Lana rummaging through the desks obviously looking for something. She had pulled out drawers and tossed them on the floor when she hadn't found what she wanted, spilling their contents all over the place.

"Lana, I've been looking all over for you," Pete said. "I heard what happened."

"Are you here to tell me that I screwed up in some major way?" Lana asked angrily.

"No," Pete replied. "I came to say I'm sorry and I want to help."

"Well it's too late for that Pete," Lana said. "No one can help me now."

Lana continued to pull apart the Torch looking for something.

"Lana what are you looking for?" Pete asked.

"I know Chloe kept one of those red kryptonite rings around here somewhere," Lana responded fiercely.

"Yeah, but what do you want it for?" Pete inquired. "You know what it does to you."

"Yeah, it makes me feel better," Lana answered as if that should be obvious.

"This is not the answer Lana," Pete said. "I saw Clark; I heard what happened to your mom's baby. Lana you need to talk to your folks."

"I did talk to my parents Pete," Lana said whirling around angrily. "You should have seen the way my dad looked at me. It was like I was an alien. If I had done what I should have in the beginning none of this would have happened."

Lana then noticed a ring case sitting on the ground amongst a bunch of spilled contents. She must have missed it earlier. She picked it up and opened it up to see what was inside. Sure enough it was one of the red kryptonite school rings.

Pete jumped forward and tried to stop Lana, "Lana, don't do it. You put that ring on and you're not yourself."

"Exactly what I don't want to be right now Pete," Lana said.

She then pushed past Pete and began walking out of the Torch office.

"Lana!" Pete called after her to stop her.

But it was to no avail. Lana had taken off at super speed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back at the farm Lana pushed her father's motorcycle out of the barn. She was going to leave Smallville. Maybe one day she'd come back, but that was a long way off in her mind. For now she just had to get away from this place.

"Lana, where are you going?" Clark asked as he came jogging up the driveway.

"Away from here," Lana replied as she went back to grab her jacket which was sitting on a stack of hay bales.

"The Lana I know wouldn't run away from her problem," Clark said.

Lana put on her jacket, "The Lana you know is a lie," Lana said.

"Why are you doing this?" Clark asked.

"Because this is what my father wanted," Lana said.

"What do you mean?" Clark asked.

"Jor-el said that if I didn't leave I'd hurt the ones I love the most," Lana answered.

"That was an accident Lana," Clark said.

"Was it Clark? Was it really?" Lana asked rhetorically. "I've already hurt my parents. I'm not gonna stick around to hurt anyone else."

"Lana you're making a big mistake." Clark protested.

Clark grabbed Lana's arm. "I am not giving up on you."

"No one can save me," Lana said. "Not even you."

"Your parents need you," Clark said as tears began to well up in his eyes. "I need you."

Lana averted her eyes, she couldn't bare to look at him.

"I love you, Lana" Clark said.

"I love you too," Lana said barely holding back her own tears. "That's why I have to leave."

Lana turned around and subtly removed the red kryptonite ring from her pocket. She slid it on to her finger and immediately felt the effects.

"Come with me," Lana said turning around to look at Clark.

"Smallville's my home," Clark replied. "It's your home too."

"Not anymore," Lana said as she put on a pair of sunglasses.

She started up the motorcycle and took off. She was reaching the end of the driveway when the motorcycle jerked to halt. She spun around to see Clark hold the back wheel up in the air.

"You'd better let me go," Lana said.

"Or what?" Clark asked.

Lana swung a foot back and kicked Clark in the midsection. Clark lost his grip on the motorcycle and found himself sailing backwards landing on the ground near the barn over two hundred feet away.

As he picked himself up off the ground he saw Lana rev the motorcycle and take off. He decided not to chase her down again.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clark was sitting up in the loft looking over Lana's various things that she had left behind and wondering if he had made the right decision. He didn't notice Pete come up into the loft.

"How're you holding out?" Pete asked him.

Clark looked up at him a bit startled, "I could have stopped her Pete."

"But you didn't," Pete said. "Why?"

"I don't know," Clark replied. "Just the look in her eyes, it's like she was a completely different person."

"That's because she is Clark," Pete said. "She stole a red kryptonite ring from the Torch."

"She's probably all the way to Metropolis by now," Clark lamented.

"Look it's not your fault Clark," Pete tried to comfort him. "I could have stopped her from taking the ring."

"I think for now we should just let her go," Clark said. "At the very least she needs time to think about what happened."

"But what about that mark?" Pete asked. "She said that it would control her."

"What mark?" Clark asked.

"The spaceship or Jor-El or whatever it gave her this mark." Pete tried to explain. "I don't really get it but she says it would control her."

Clark stood up, "We've got to find her Pete," Clark said.

"How are you going to do that?" Pete asked. "Even with all your powers you'd be hard pressed to find her in a big city like Metropolis. Especially if she doesn't want anyone to find her."

"There's one thing I don't think she can resist," Clark said.

"What's that?" Pete inquired curiously.

"Me."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

So Clark is off to look for Lana. But there's still several other storylines as yet unresolved. What's going on with Chloe and Lex? And is Lionel getting close to discovering the secret of the caves? Will Clark be able to find Lana and bring her home? Find out by reading on.

Just a reminder I created a C2 for fans of Lana. There are some good stories in there, check them out and look for some more entries in the near future. And check out the Smallville Revised Forums for some good discussion about the best TV show on Thursday nights.

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000), irc. (Port 7000), or irc. (Port 6667), then go to channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. And if that doesn't work for you, look for the Smallville Revised Forum. I hope to see you in one of the two places.


	40. Chapter 39

**Chapter 39**

"I'm so worried Jonathon," Martha Kent said to her husband in their farmhouse living room. "Lana's been gone for over a week."

"Clark's been doing his best, but if she doesn't want to be found she probably won't be found," Jonathon said. "All we can do now is hope."

Just then the front door opened and a weary and depressed Clark came in.

"Any luck?" Martha asked hopefully.

Clark shook his head and sighed. "I can't find her at all," Clark replied. "She's probably the one that's been robbing ATM's lately, but I've got no idea where she is. I can't figure out a pattern."

He flopped down in a chair and rubbed his forehead as he tried to wrack his brain for answer, but nothing was coming to him.

"I wish things hadn't gotten so bad with Chloe," Clark said sadly. "She would have been so much help with this."

"Maybe Lex can help," Jonathon suggested. "I'm surprised he hasn't come by yet."

"So am I," Clark agreed. "But I think we all know that Lex can't be completely trusted. He always seems to have some ulterior motive behind everything he does."

"But he can help us find her," Martha said. "We should try and get him to help."

"No," Clark disagreed. "Lana's under the influence of the red kryptonite ring. If we get other people involved there's a good chance that they'll learn her secret. We can't risk exposing her."

"Well what do you want to do?" Jonathon asked. "You can just keep searching by yourself. Besides how will you be able to take her home?"

"I'm going back to Metropolis tomorrow," Clark said. "If I don't find her then we can get Lex involved. But if I do, we'll try and get her back between us."

Jonathon Kent nodded and patted Clark on the shoulder, "Thank you Clark," he said. "You've been a big help around here. You're like the son I always wanted."

Clark winced slightly at the comment, but he quickly shook the thoughts that came with it out of his head.

"I need to be alone to think," Clark said.

He got up and left the house.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clark was sitting cross-legged on the floor up in the empty apartment above the Talon staring at a picture of Lana he had stuck on the wall. He had cleared a lot of the junk out of the apartment and it was now almost completely bare.

"So you found her," someone said behind him.

Clark got up to his knees and turned around to see Pete standing in the doorway.

"Pete, how do you know?" Clark asked.

"Educated guess," Pete said pointing at a stack of papers sitting on the kitchen counter. "I read through them. Have you told Jonathon and Martha?"

"No," Clark replied. "How could I? When I found she punched me and sent me 3 blocks away. She doesn't want to come home."

"Clark you know that's not true," Pete said. "That's just the red kryptonite. It messes with her mind."

"Those feelings have to come from somewhere Pete," Clark said.

"Clark, you can't just let her go on like this," Pete said. "I know you love her man, and the Clark I know wouldn't let Lana ruin her life."

Clark turned away from Pete and sat back down and stared at the picture of Lana. There was a long silence between Clark and Pete broken only occasionally by a sniff from Clark. It took Pete a minute for him to realize that his best friend was crying.

"Clark what's wrong?" Pete asked.

"It's just, it's that, I don't know Pete," Clark stammered not sure himself what was wrong. "I don't know what to do. I don't know how we can get her home."

Pete thought for a minute and then he had an idea.

"Clark, I've got a plan." Pete said. "Tomorrow you're gonna take me to Metropolis."

Clark turned around to face Pete wiping the tears off of his cheeks and looked up at Pete who had a confident look on his face. For the first time in a long time, Clark finally smiled.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana got back to her apartment and shut the door behind her. She'd just returned from robbing a convenience store. The store clerk had shot her twice in the chest with a double barrel shot gun with no effect other than ripping her clothes. Lana tossed aside the ski mask she had worn for the heist. Suddenly she dropped to the ground clutching her chest and groaning in agony. Beneath her blouse the symbol that the ship had scarred onto her glowed. Lana felt her fingers slipping towards the ring.

_No_, Lana thought to herself, _I can't take it off_. _I don't want to remember_.

But Lana had no choice, she couldn't fight it. She slipped the ring off and all the memories came flooding back. Memories of Smallville, memories that she wanted to get away from. Lana sat with her back resting against the door breathing heavily.

_I won't cry_, Lana said to herself.

Lana had regained control of her body now. She once again slid the red kryptonite ring onto her finger. She felt the rush as the veins in her arm pulsed red and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Just then there was a knock on the door.

_Who could that be_? Lana wondered. _The police_?

Whoever it was they'd be sorry that they came here. She stood up and opened the door getting ready to deal with whoever was on the otherside, most likely with violence. But when she opened the door to see Clark standing there her emotions slipped up.

"Clark, why are you…" Lana stammered.

"Lana you have to come home," Clark said. "I can't let you stay here and ruin your life."

"Clark I told you to stay away from me," Lana said regaining her composure. "You should have listened."

Before Clark could react Lana drove a fist into his gut. Clark went sailing over the banister, across the alley and through the wall on the other side.

"Lana, if you're not going to listen then maybe you'll listen to me," Pete said stepping out from behind the door.

Lana turned to deal with Pete, but Pete had a surprise for her. Her opened a box containing a piece of green kryptonite. Lana fell to the ground.

"Pete, why?" Lana croaked.

"It was the only way," Pete said.

Pete grabbed her hand and pulled the red kryptonite ring off. Lana tried to resist but the Kryptonite made her too weak to do much but slow Pete down by a few seconds as he pried her fingers apart easily.

As soon as the ring was off Lana's eyes flashed red and she looked at Pete with a thankful expression. Pete snapped the lid of the box closed protecting Lana from the kryptonite. Clark came speeding up finally.

"Pete, Clark," Lana said looking up at them from the ground. "Thank you so much."

"Hey what are friends for?" Clark asked rhetorically.

Lana felt her chest, "It's gone," she remarked.

"What is?" Pete inquired.

"The mark," Lana replied. "It's gone."

"Does this mean you can come back to Smallville?" Clark asked.

Lana nodded, "I don't see why not," she answered.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

Lana is home. It happened a lot quicker for one simple reason, Jonathon had no need to make a deal with Jor-El, which means the Covenant won't happen. Or will it? If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times. The only way to find out is to keep on reading.

Check out the C2 group Lana Fans Unite! There are some good stories in there

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000), irc. (Port 7000), or irc. (Port 6667), then go to channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there; we've got a diverse culture of Americans, Brits and Canadians in there on a regular basis and it'd be nice to diversify that further. If you're having problems getting on send me a message and I'll do what I can to help. And if that doesn't work for you, look for the Smallville Revised Forum. I hope to see you in one of the two places.


	41. Chapter 40

**Chapter 40**

When Lana got home her parents were so thankful to see her. They were even more thankful of Clark for bring her home.

"It so good to have you back," Jonathon said hugging his daughter extremely tightly. "Your mother and I were so worried about you."

"I'm sorry I ran away," Lana apologized. "I wasn't thinking right."

"How can we ever repay you?" Martha asked Clark.

"Well Mrs. Kent," Clark said getting down on one knee. "The one thing that would make me happier than anything in the world, is if Lana would marry me."

Clark pulled a ring case out of his back pocket and flipped it open, presenting the ring to Lana. Both Lana and her parents were completely stunned. The ring was absolutely beautiful with five exquisite looking diamonds.

"Clark how could you afford this?" Martha asked.

"I've been saving up," Clark replied. "Apparently for quite sometime. So, Lana, what is your answer?"

Lana was completely stunned. After all that she had done Clark loved her so much that he still wanted to marry her. The only thing stopping her was the fact that she was only 16.

"It's not like we're going to get married immediately," Clark said. "We'll finish high school first and do the college thing."

Lana looked first at her mother and then at her father. Jonathon was in a state nobody had ever seen him in. He was so shocked that he had no idea what to say. Lana looked back to her mother seeking advice.

"It's your decision Lana," Martha said. "And we'll respect whatever choice you make."

Lana turned back to Clark who was looking up in anticipation at her. "Yes," Lana finally answered. "I will."

Clark sprang to his feet as quick as a hiccup and then gently slid the ring on to Lana's ring finger and then romantically kissed her hand.

"What are we going to tell everybody though?" Lana asked.

"The truth," Clark replied. "We can't keep everything a secret."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One morning about three weeks into the new school year, Lana was heading up to the loft to get a book. A she picked it up she noticed the top of a familiar bald head barely poking up over the top of the desk.

"Lex?" Lana asked.

Lex slowly pulled himself to his feet. Lana could see that he was injured. He had a cut above his eye and he seemed to have some kind of injury to his one leg that didn't let him put a lot of weight on it.

"Are you alone?" Lex asked.

"Yeah, what happened to you?" Lana inquired.

"Somebody tried to kill me last night," Lex replied limping over to the window.

"We need to get you to a hospital," Lana said. "And call the police."

"No, no hospitals, no police," Lex cut her off. "These people are professionals. They killed my security guard Darius, they tried to finish me off too. I just need time to think."

Lana stood there completely confused, she didn't feel that Lex was lying. Something had definitely happened to him, but she wasn't sure what.

"Who would want to kill you?" Lana asked feeling that if she could learn why this was happening she might be able to help.

"The less you know the better." Lex answered.

"Lex, I can't help you if you don't tell me what's going on," Lana said angrily.

"It was probably my father," Lex told her.

"Look I know you guys have had your problems but do you really think he'd try to kill you?" Lana asked.

"It was either him or Morgan Edge," Lex said.

"Morgan Edge? Isn't he the crime boss that killed a few months ago?" Lana asked.

"He survived," Lex explained. "He went underground and got some hack plastic surgeon to alter his appearance."

"Well what does he have against you?" Lana inquired.

"I have evidence link both him and my father to a crime that could get them both the death penalty," Lex said. "That evidence was supposed to be delivered to the US attorney this morning."

"Lana is that you?" Jonathon called from the barn entrance.

"But it's in my safe Lana, I can't go back there." Lex said.

He then ducked behind the desk again as the sound of Jonathon Kent's feet coming up the stairs grew louder.

"Lana?" Jonathon called out.

Lana turned around to face her father.

"I thought I heard somebody up here." Jonathon said. "Listen since you're up with the cows why don't you come down and give me a hand with the milking?"

"Sorry dad I got some last minute cramming to do," Lana lied.

"Alright," Jonathon said. "But I expect you to get an A."

"Yes sir," Lana agreed.

Jonathon went back down the stairs to get to his chores for the day.

"Alright I'll go get what's in your safe," Lana said to Lex once her father was gone.

"No Lana it's too dangerous." Lex argued. "The people in the mansion could be in on this."

"No, if anyone asks I'll just play dumb," Lana replied. "Tell them I was there to meet you. So tell me exactly what happened."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana walked into Lex's office. The mansion was empty since it was still rather early in the morning. Lana looked around the room, it didn't look like anything had happened, but Lex said that they were professionals. They had probably cleaned up the place to make it look like nothing had happened. Lana went over to the safe and inserted the key that Lex had given her. She then put in the code and opened it up. She was surprised to find the safe completely empty. Lana wondered if Lex was telling her the truth or if this was all some crazy scheme of his. She closed the safe and walked out of the office. As she was leaving she was seen by one of Lex's staff.

"Miss Kent can I help you?" the staff member asked.

"I'm here to see Lex," Lana replied.

"Well most of the house hold is still asleep," the staff member told her.

"Is Darius on duty?" Lana inquired out of the blue.

"He had the night on," the staff member answered.

"He got stuck with the graveyard shift," Lana commented.

She meanwhile scanned the hallways with her X-ray vision to see if she could find any clues that would corroborate Lex's story. She notice a single shard of glass stuck behind a stand holding a vase.

"Anything unusual happen?" Lana asked.

"Not until you arrived," the staff member replied.

"Well I know how to take a hint, so uh," Lana said.

She then dropped her keys beside the stand. She bent down to pick them up and at the same time grabbed the shard of glass.

"Tell Darius I was asking for him," Lana said as she continued on her way out of the mansion.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I'm telling you Lex, it was like being in the Twilight Zone," Lana said. "Like there was nothing wrong,"

"I didn't imagine getting shot at Lana," Lex said. "They must have had cleaners come in there to cover their tracks."

"Yeah well they missed a spot," Lana said pulling out the shard of glass that she had found. "I found this in the hallway. I called Darius' house to see if anyone knew he was missing. But according to his answering machine his wife and his kids are off visiting their grandparents."

"Darius is probably at the bottom of Crater Lake by now," Lex commented taking the shard of glass from Lana and staring at it intently.

"Maybe we should call the US attorney," Lana suggested.

"And tell him what? He was nervous going after someone as powerful as Lionel Luthor to begin with. I don't think he'll be issuing any warrants based on a shard of glass."

Lana sighed, "Is there anyone who can corroborate any part of your story?" she asked.

Lex just stared back her.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm sure that you all wanted to know if Lex was going to go crazy. Well he certainly looks like he's on that path or maybe Lana will be able to save him just like Clark was able to bring her home? There's only one way to know for certain just what is going to happen, and that is to keep on reading. Believe me, the story is about to get good. Thanks to anybody who has offered up some suggestions, I'll take them into consideration.

Check out the C2 group Lana Fans Unite! There are some good stories in there

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000), irc. (Port 7000), or irc. (Port 6667), then go to channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there; we've got a diverse culture of Americans, Brits and Canadians in there on a regular basis and it'd be nice to diversify that further. If you're having problems getting on send me a message and I'll do what I can to help. And if that doesn't work for you, look for the Smallville Revised Forum. I hope to see you in one of the two places.


	42. Chapter 41

**Chapter 41**

Lana knocked on the door. When Chloe answered it and saw who it was she immediately went to close the door in Lana's face. However, Lana was able to stop her.

"Chloe, please, this isn't about me," Lana pleaded. "Lex's needs our help."

At that Chloe hesitantly opened the door and allowed Lana to come in. Chloe led her into the living room where Lana explained everything that had happened.

"Is he alright?" Chloe asked.

"He's fine," Lana replied. "But I think he's starting to go a little crazy, like all this pressure is starting to get to him."

Chloe noticed the ring on Lana's fingers, "Who gave you that ring?" Chloe asked.

Lana looked at her engagement ring, "That's not important," Lana replied. "What is important is that Lex is in trouble and he needs our help. So let's just put our differences aside and concentrate on that. His life is at stake here."

"You got the ring from Clark," Chloe stated unwilling to drop the subject. "Didn't you?"

"If you're going to be difficult I'll just go and try and help Lex on my own," Lana said angrily.

"Just answer the question," Chloe demanded. "Did you get the ring from Clark?"

Lana sighed. She didn't know why Chloe was making a big deal out of this.

"Yes," Lana said. "I got the ring from Clark."

"I knew it," Chloe muttered to herself.

"Look, if my relationship with Clark is going to get in the way…" Lana started.

"Oh no," Chloe interrupted. "No it won't. I'm way over Clark, I found another guy."

"Oh? Who?" Lana asked curious.

"Like you said, now isn't the time," Chloe replied.

Lana cursed herself inwardly for saying that earlier because now her mind would be off wondering who Chloe's mystery man was.

"So how did you get mixed up in all of this?" Lana asked Chloe trying to get the other topics that had come up out of her mind.

"I was researching a story on Lionel Luthor, and Lex seemed rather keen on helping me get it," Chloe replied. "Lionel ran with a pretty tough crowd as a kid."

"Morgan Edge?" Lana asked.

"Yeah I figured Lex would be interested, and it got even more interesting when Lex told me his theory that Edge and Lionel murdered his grandparents." Chloe said.

"Chloe these people are dangerous," Lana said. "They could come after you too. Lex and I both agree that you should stay out of sight until this is over."

"No, nobody who knows anything about this is safe," Chloe argued. "Not until whoever is responsible is exposed."

"Well I'm not going to leave you alone," Lana said. "Now grab your laptop and let's go."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lana was hoping that maybe this whole ordeal would help mend her broken friendship with Chloe. She wondered if somewhere behind that false mask that Chloe always portrayed, if Chloe was think the exact same thing. For all her journalistic fervour and her excessively jealous and petty behaviour towards Lana in the past year, Chloe was still a person that Lana respected and wanted to be friends with. And it wasn't like Lana was entirely unsympathetic towards Chloe's cause; she just felt that Clark had made his decision and Chloe was going to have to learn to let go eventually. Perhaps time had managed to heal those wounds, she had mentioned another guy. Lana's mind began to wander to who this other guy might be.

When Lana and Chloe pulled up the driveway, Lionel Luthor was standing out there talking to Lana's parents.

"Hello Lana," he greeted her, he turned and offered his hand to Chloe. "Miss Sullivan isn't it?"

"Yeah," Chloe agreed.

"You write that column for the Daily Planet. I like it, very insightful," Lionel commented.

"Thank you," Chloe said meekly.

"Lana, Mister Luthor has something he'd like to talk to you about," Jonathon informed his daughter.

"I'm afraid it's serious," Martha added.

"Have you seen Lex, Lana?" Lionel asked.

"Not for a few days," Lana lied.

"Lex is missing," Lionel explained. "It's important that I find him."

"Mister Luthor I know Lex pretty well," Lana said. "If he wanted you to know where he was, you probably would."

Chloe looked oddly at Lana.

"Lex is seriously ill," Lionel said. "He needs help."

"What do you mean ill?" Lana inquired.

"It's a psychotic break. Lex has had a psychotic break," Lionel answered.

There were odd looks passed around between everybody but Lionel.

"That can't be right," Lana said.

"It happened pretty recently," Lionel explained. "I thought he'd beaten it but, uh, he's had a relapse. He's suffering from paranoid delusions. He's hearing voices, he sees things that aren't there."

Lionel paused to take a breath and calm himself down inwardly. "I want my son and I want him back." Lionel said. "The way he used to be. If you hear from him Lana, you have to help me. We have to get him the care he needs."

While the conversation lingered on, little did anyone know that the very subject of the conversation was peaking down through a crack in the barn, managing to catch a few bits and pieces of the conversation.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Lana finally went into the barn after Lionel Luthor had left, she could have sworn that she heard singing. She followed the sound to the workshop where Lex was singing a lullaby with his back to the door as he cradled something in his arms.

"Lex what are you doing down here?" Lana asked.

"I had to get the baby he was crying," Lex replied. "My father woke him."

"The baby?" Lana inquired completely bewildered. "What baby?"

Lex turned around to show Lana a rolled up blanket that he was holding like a little infant. He looked up at Lana, "My little brother Julian," Lex replied as if it should have been completely obvious to Lana.

Lana sighed inwardly, _Perhaps Lionel was right_, Lana thought to herself. _Maybe Lex really has lost it completely_. _I mean he's singing lullabies to a rolled up blanket that he thinks is his baby brother Julian_.

"Lex," Lana started to say.

"Shh, Shh," Lex cut her off with a whisper. "He's sleeping.

Lex gave Lana an odd smile. It was the sort of smile that a mother gives to husband the first time she holds her new born child. Lana was completely confused and had no idea what else to say. She just stood and watched, slightly amused, as Lex continued with his lullaby.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"And the baby was a figment of Lex's imagination?" Martha asked.

Lana had finally come clean and told her parents that Lex had been hiding in the barn. She'd also explained why he was hiding in the barn and everything else that had happened.

"He did have a little brother named Julian," Lana replied. "He died as an infant when Lex was still a kid."

"That must have been so traumatic for him," Martha sympathized.

"Anyway Chloe is with him now and he seems perfectly fine," Lana said. "I don't get it. One second he thinks he's holding a baby and the next minute he's making complete sense."

"Lana, what I don't understand is how you could hide him in our barn with out telling us," Jonathon said angrily.

"Dad he was scared," Lana argued. "And he thinks Lionel is trying to kill him. He said Morgan Edge is still alive."

"The crime lord?" Jonathon asked.

"One in the same," Lana replied.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Martha asked.

"Well Lex thinks that Morgan Edge conspired with his father to kill of his grandparents," Lana said.

"So what? How does that affect anything? People would notice Morgan Edge the second he set foot in Smallville." Jonathon said.

"Lex said that Morgan Edge has had plastic surgery, and that if he showed up here nobody would notice him." Lana continued.

"So Morgan Edge is alive and has had plastic surgery?" Jonathon asked rhetorically. "Doesn't that sound like another one of Lex's delusions?

"I know how hard it is for you to see Lex in this condition," Martha comforted her daughter. "But he needs psychiatric care."

Lana noticed Jonathon's vision suddenly shift from off of her to something behind her. Lana turned around to see Lex standing there, she wondered how long he had been there.

"You think you know people," Lex said. "And then you realize that it's all just a façade."

"Lex you know we only want what's best for you," Martha said.

"Save the coy maternal posturing for your own son Mrs. Kent," Lex sneered angrily. "I heard you all talking. The little Kent cabal, such a selective group aren't you? So secretive, plotting to pack me off to the loony bin?"

"I tried to stop him," Chloe said running up. "I'm sorry."

Lana wondered just how a limping Lex was able to get that far ahead of Chloe, but decided that wasn't important at the moment. Lex glared oddly at all of them.

"You're all watching me now?" Lex asked.

Nobody said anything to answer Lex's question and he turned and began to limp away.

"Lex, where are you going?" Lana asked grabbing him by the arm.

"To find Morgan Edge and prove I'm not crazy," Lex replied. "You're either with me or against me Lana, choose right now."

Lana looked at her parents. They didn't really know what to say. However, Lana felt that she should at least indulge her own curiosity to see if Lex was telling the truth. She left with Lex to go to the truck in the driveway.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Please Read Over: **(I know it's a slightly longer than normal chapter)

Well Lex is full blown crazy! But clearly the Morgan Edge situation can't play out the same. Edge doesn't know Clark's secret, so he's no threat. So just how will that play out? And what will happen to Lex? Will he be thrown in Belle Reeve? Will he learn Lana's secret and then have it erased? And what about Chloe? Will her friendship with Lana be repaired. There is only one way to answer that; keep reading.

Check out the C2 group Lana Fans Unite! There are some good stories in there

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000), irc. (Port 7000), or irc. (Port 6667), then go to channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there; we've got a diverse culture of Americans, Brits and Canadians in there on a regular basis and it'd be nice to diversify that further. If you're having problems getting on send me a message and I'll do what I can to help. And if that doesn't work for you, look for the Smallville Revised Forum. I hope to see you in one of the two places.


	43. Chapter 42

**Chapter 42**

"Maybe you should stay in the car," Lex suggested.

He had directed Lana to some abandoned looking warehouse section on the outskirts of Smallville.

"Lex I've got your back that's why I'm here," Lana said getting out of the truck.

Lex reluctantly got out of the truck and led Lana inside. Inside they came across a large room filled with immigrant workers making clothing. Lex looked around the room in confusion. Just yesterday this had been where he had found Morgan Edge. It had been the office of some hack plastic surgeon who had completely reshaped Edge's face to make him unrecognizable. Lex instinctively rubbed his neck as the pressure of it all began to get to him.

"Lex maybe this is the wrong place," Lana said to him.

"No, no this was the place," Lex said pointing down in front of him. "Edge was here."

"That was only yesterday," Lana said. "And these people look like they've been here for a while."

"Don't you see Lana?" Lex asked. "It's part of the cover up. No it wouldn't be that hard. Bring in a few machines, some immigrant labour."

One of the sweatshop workers looked up at Lex as if he were mad, which Lana was beginning to suspect he was.

"If you just wanna disappear Lex why go through all this trouble?" Lana asked.

"I don't know Clark," Lex answered angrily with exhaustion also entering his voice.

Lana looked around the room. "Lex you've gotta ask yourself, is there any possibility that you might be imagining all of this?"

Lex sighed and looked around the room hoping that maybe he could spot some tell tale sign that Morgan Edge had been here. Lex then pushed past Lana and grabbed the man who seemed to be the shift manager.

"Where's Morgan Edge?" Lex demanded angrily. "Where is he?"

When he was unable to give Lex any sort of answer since he didn't speak English, Lex grabbed him and slammed his hand down near the needle of a sewing machine.

"Tell me where he is right now or so help me god I'll put that through your hand," Lex threatened the confused man.

"Lex he doesn't understand a word you're saying," Lana said grabbing Lex and pulling him away.

The man yelled something angrily at Lex in whatever Asian language it was that he spoke.

"Come on let's go," Lana said leading Lex out of the sweatshop.

"Alright Lana, you win," Lex agreed, he then pulled out the shard of glass Lana had found. "But I'm not imagining this am I?"

The man angrily yelled something and pointed towards the door. Lana grabbed Lex by the shoulders and led him out of the sweatshop as he continued to protest that he wasn't imagining things.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"There's gotta be more evidence," Lex insisted.

Lana had reluctantly taken Lex back to the Luthor mansion after Lex had insisted that they go to look for more evidence.

"Maybe we should call the sheriff, get her to bring in a forensics team," Lana suggested. "What do you want to do Lex?"

Before Lex could say anything someone came into the room.

"Mister Luthor," Darius said.

"Darius, you're alive," Lex remarked.

"We were worried about you sir," Darius said.

"You're in on this aren't you?" Lex insisted.

"In on what?" Darius asked.

Lex went to his bar and poured himself a drink. He quickly knocked it back. Another door opened and a woman Lana had never seen before came in.

"Lex thank god," she said. "We were looking everywhere for you."

"Did you call her?" Lex asked Lana angrily.

"I don't even know who she is," Lana replied.

"She's my psychiatrist." Lex explained. "Don't you think it's a little convenient that she just happens to be here?"

"Security called me Lex," his psychiatrist replied. "You need to come with me."

"No, I'm not going anywhere. Somebody tried to kill me last night, I jumped through a window!" Lex exclaimed, he pulled out the shard of glass once more. "Look, I have proof."

His psychiatrist lowered his hand, "The window was broken," she admitted. "You got angry at our last session and you through a vase through the hall window."

The psychiatrist reached into her bag, "I'm going to give you something," she said.

"What is this?" Lex asked angrily grabbing the syringe. "Huh? Some kind of hallucinogen?"

"It's a sedative," the psychiatrist replied firmly.

"No," Lex disagreed. "You're working with my father. You're drugging me to make me crazy."

"We need to get you to a hospital," the psychiatrist said.

"Alright Mister Luthor, everything is going to be fine," Darius said stepping up behind Lex. "It's going to be alright."

Lex reached into Darius's jacket and pulled out the gun that was holstered in there and began pointing it around.

"Get on the ground!" Lex yelled. "Both of you on the ground now!"

Darius and the psychiatrist complied with Lex's demands.

"Lex, no, give me the gun." Lana insisted.

"No Lana, if they take me to the hospital I'll either end up dead or drooling in a padded cell for the rest of my life." Lex argued in a panicked tone.

"Why would they want to do that?" Lana asked.

"It the perfect plan Lana," Lex replied. "As long as the whole world thinks I'm crazy no one will believe what I found out about my father and Morgan Edge. Think about it Lana."

Lana's mind was racing. Lex's theory, while farfetched could certainly be possible, and knowing Lionel Luthor there was a better than normal chance it was true. A very powerful man like Lionel would likely stop at nothing to avoid being charged with murder.

"Young man," the psychiatrist interrupted Lana's thought process. "Your friend is very sick. These conspiracy theories are a symptom of his condition."

"Shut up," Lex said on the verge of complete mental and physical exhaustion. "Maybe I am crazy Lana. I honestly don't know anymore. But what if I'm right about all this? You're really just gonna let them put me away?"

Lana was so confused; her gut instinct was telling her that Lex was telling the truth.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the Smallville Stables, Clark arrived having just finished his closing shift at the Talon.

"Hello?" Clark called out. "Are you here?"

Lana stepped out from an empty stable catching Clark by surprise.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you," Lana apologized.

"I got your message," Clark said. "I brought the food. But I don't know what I'm doing here in the middle of the night."

Lana stepped aside and Clark saw Lex sitting in the corner looking rather pathetic. Clark went over to talk to him.

"Lex's what's wrong?" Clark asked.

"There's a possibility he's being drugged," Lana replied for Lex. "People are after him, I couldn't bring him to the farm and I knew that you knew this place."

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" Clark asked upset.

"Because if Lex is right, everyone who's involved in this is in danger." Lana replied.

"Lana you know I can handle the danger," Clark said. "What exactly are we mixed up in?"

"I wish I knew," Lana replied. "I need you to stay with him."

"Where are you going?" Clark inquired.

"I gotta get some evidence to Chloe that may prove that he's being drugged," Lana answered. "She couldn't come here because we think she's being watched."

"Don't worry Clark," Lex said. "I'll tell you everything."

"Be careful," Lana warned. "He's not himself."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Please Read Over: **(I know it's a slightly longer than normal chapter)

Well Lex is crazy, but it's not like Clark will suddenly have his leg broken by a horse. Or will he? (Probably not since I'm not going to have the Adam arc, stupid Adam). Still gotta wonder how this is going to end since Edge knows absolutely nothing about Lana. The way you find out the answer to these questions is a simple one. Keep reading.

Check out the C2 group Lana Fans Unite! There are some good stories in there

Just **_another_** one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000), irc. (Port 7000), or irc. (Port 6667), then go to channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there; we've got a diverse culture of Americans, Brits and Canadians in there on a regular basis and it'd be nice to diversify that further. If you're having problems getting on send me a message and I'll do what I can to help. And if that doesn't work for you, look for the Smallville Revised Forum. I hope to see you in one of the two places.


End file.
